IdentifyStone
What type of rock is this?
What stone is this? A photo is enough to start. IdentifyStone names the likely match and the traits that separate it from common lookalikes.
What to check before you name it
Use one clear photo
Set the stone on a plain background and include something for scale, such as a coin. A wet surface and a dry surface can look like different minerals, so photograph the face you actually want identified.
Rock, mineral, and stone are not the same word
A mineral is one crystalline material, such as quartz. A rock is a solid mixture of minerals, such as granite. Stone is the everyday word for either, and it is the word most people use when they ask what they just picked up.
Compare the traits that disagree
Color is the easiest thing to see and the easiest way to be wrong. Hardness, streak, luster, and crystal shape separate lookalikes that share a color. When two names still fit, the difference is usually one of those four.