The Daily Omnivore

The locality of Boron, California, produces a most unusual form of Ulexite. Gigantic hunks of this mineral are found in great amounts in the form of fibrous, compact veins. When polished, these specimens become the famous ‘Television Stone’ sold to amateur collectors. The optical effect exhibited by Television Stone is caused by each of its individual fibers acting as fiber-optic cables, transmitting light from one surface to the other. Since all the fibers are parallel and compacted together, any image at one surface is transmitted through each fiber to the other surface. Thus, any text or image at the bottom of a specimen appears as if it is on top.