Obsidian rock

[4keeps707]

Hello...I picked this up at thrift store. On it has clipping National Yellowstone National Park and a bit about the obsidian cliff. Looking it up, I found that gathering rocks from Yellowstone is illegal...so my question is...is this worth anything? It is shown as found. Thank you for any input. 

[sonomabarn67]

Might be illegal...

[4keeps707]

thats what i thought after reading up.

[debora_34_]

It is illegal to take rock from Yellowstone's Obsidian Cliff but it may not be illegal to sell it.   Two different things.  If your intention is to list it on eBay, I suggest you review their list of prohibited items.   And I would very much think it would bring collector interest; (the number of interested collectors would determine value.)

Debora

[sonomabarn67]

But with that documentation and stating that documentation in an ebay listing is a slippery slope all the way around to a violation isn't it? I wonder what the fine is for stealing those rocks in the first place. "I bought it from a thift store" just doesn't seem like a good defense.

[4keeps707]

thank you Debora..

[vietcoinscollection]

apparently it is a no no to remove rocks from this park:

https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/yellowstone-looters-draw-fines/article_14bf9152-1761-584b-8...

[4keeps707]

Lol..its the only defense I have...and I'm sticking to it. Seriously...when I bought it..I didn't know what it was..other than a rock...with glued on info from a newspaper clipping. I didn't read it as I was on way to cashier and I grabbed it on my way. When was taking rock made illegal? Any idea?

[argon38]

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@debora_34_ wrote:

It is illegal to take rock from Yellowstone's Obsidian Cliff but it may not be illegal to sell it.   Two different things.

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The problem is, you can't legally sell something if you don't legally own it. I think if the OP were to put this up for sale, with a label advertising that it comes from Yellowstone, they would be asking for trouble.

The printed text, by the way, appears to come from a variant of this old booklet (it can't be exactly the same edition, as there's a photo separating the last line of text):

https://archive.org/stream/northernpacif18963329nort/northernpacif18963329nort#page/n4/mode/1up

Perhaps when the rock was collected it was still legal to do so (I don't know when the law was introduced). But I can't see that being a viable defence, otherwise people could remove minerals unlawfully and just stick old article clippings on them to get around the prohibition.

[4keeps707]

thank you for that info...sheesh...how scary is this? I have never been to Yellowstone nor Yosemite for that matter. This was just a rock ... I had no idea.

[vietcoinscollection]

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@4keeps707 wrote:
thank you for that info...sheesh...how scary is this? I have never been to Yellowstone nor Yosemite for that matter. This was just a rock ... I had no idea.

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Stick to your story, but remember Robert Mueller is jobless right now and may want to start an investigation of illegal rocking...

[4keeps707]

Thank you argon38 ! How do you find these links? I agree, this label did not come from that booklet, close though. I would also wonder if this..in fact is from yellowstone...is it really obsidian? I'm not sure what I really have...so selling it would not be a good thing.

[4keeps707]

lol !! too funny !

[argon38]

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@4keeps707 wrote:
I would also wonder if this..in fact is from yellowstone...is it really obsidian?

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From the photos it does seem to have the glassy look of obsidian, although there are obviously reflections from the packaging. I was going to say that the label isn't actually proof of anything, and that if you removed it then who could prove a Yellowstone connection? But it turns out that there are tests which can determine the location from the "signature" of the rock, and in fact researchers have used this ability to investigate how popular the obsidian from the area was, and how widely it was used.

Anyway, interesting stuff... we could do with more questions like this from other master criminals.

[c*me*4*lefton*info]

My opinion -

It is what it says it is, obsidian from Yellowstone.

Contact the Park and see if they want it back. They probably are in a position to tell you more about it than anyone here can tell you. If they want it back then send it to them. It's a karma thing.