Jasper is easily identified by its red, yellow and brown colours. Because it is a quartz, it takes a fine polish and often stands out as a smoothly tumbled pebble in streams.

Banded Jasper   Lake Superior, Ontario, CANADA The bright red of jasper makes it easy to identify. This specimen is dramatically layered. It has 2 flat, cut surfaces with a slight polish.	Jasper Nodule   PANAMA This creamy yellow-orange, hard jasper nodule shows its waxy luster in areas where the rough “skin” has been broken off. It is translucent when sliced thin but opaque when in a large chunk.
This smooth, blocky, opaque beach pebble has reddish brown jasper sandwiched between layers of other rocks. Jasper Nodule    Nova Scotia, CANADA	Jasper banded with Magnetite Matachewan, Ontario, CANADA

When jasper has patterns made by the different colours, it is often given a fanciful name. The name often times described what the pattern looks like and is representative of the kind of jasper found in a certain location.

Wild Horse Jasper