10x
Large chunk of Tellurium metal showing the brittle, crystalline structure, from which the below blowpipe images were generated from.

Tellurium (Te)
Purity = 999
Image taken with 35mm camera and a 135mm lens, set at macro for close-up focusing, shutter speed = 1/125th of second shaded sun using 200 film and developed by Kodak 1 hour commercial labs and then digitized.
Plaster tablet size approximately 2” x 4 “
Tellurium produces brown, gray, bluish, blackish and whitish sublimates with very little heat. In other words it volatilizes very easy.
The sublimates also volatilize way too easy and if care is not exercised the sublimates will disappear.
Colors are accurate.

10x
Tellurium (Te)
Image created with B&L SZ5 microscope @ 10 power, coupled to a ccd camera and computer.
Sublimate colors of this magnified view are close to the physical, but should be a little more gray. The light source I am using often produces either too bright or distorted colors.
The small Te spheroids are due to the small pieces taken from large piece of Te that I did not coalesce into one bead.
The cracks in plaster tablet are due to heat from propane torch.
The carved out depression is to help keep the metal in a confined area due to blast from applied torch flame.

Tellurium with an equal amount by volume of Silver.
The 2 metals are being melted to form a thorough blending.
Only minor heating with torch produces large volumes of sublimate. Continued heat volatilizes sublimates.

40x
Tellurium and silver from above plaster tablet image.
This image indicates incomplete blending of the two metals.
It is surprising to watch the Tellurium melt and attach to the silver as though it was mercury.

10x
The Tellurium and silver are now thoroughly blended, but the plaster tablet image has changed from the above tablet.
Color is very accurate.
The out of focus sublimates (whitish areas) when examined at 70x produce bladed tellurium crystals, which cannot be distinguished as such at 40x.
Obviously, it behooves the prospector to have a decent microscope with which to study the sublimates for crystal structure, which can help aid in making determinations.
Note: I have conducted tests to determine whether or not Silver will be volatilized along with the Te and preliminary tests indicate, to my satisfaction that silver does indeed volatilize easier when Te is present. Consequently, these simple blowpipe tests can be of tremendous aid to any prospector to develop a better understanding as to what may be happening when metals are subjected to high temperatures, such as during assay fusions.

Tellurium with an equal amount of gold.
Image taken with 35mm camera and a 135mm lens, set at macro for close-up focusing, shutter speed = 1/125th of second during shaded sun, using 200 film and developed by Kodak 1 hour commercial labs and then digitized.
Plaster tablet size approximately 2” x 5 “
Colors are very accurate.

10x
Tellurium and equal amount of gold.
Sublimate color is close to accurate and exact for the Te & Au bead.
It is amazing to watch as to how quickly the tellurium, as it melts attaches to the un-melted gold, almost exactly like liquid mercury does.
Note: I have heard and read that tellurium will rob gold assay results. So, to help me determine the validity of this supposed fact I ran tests to see if gold would volatize along with the tellurium. All I can say from my preliminary blowpipe tests is that some gold seems to be carried away with the Te as it volatilizes.

Antimony + Tellurium + Lead

Sb+Te+Pb
Image taken with 35mm camera and a 135mm lens, set at macro for close-up focusing, shutter speed = 1/125th of second in cloudy conditions using 200 film and developed by Kodak 1 hour commercial lab and then digitized.
Color = accurate
The white is primarily Sb & some Pb.
The brownish color is the Te. Most of the brown is covered by the white Sb sublimate.
The normal yellow color of Pb sublimate is hidden or covered by Sb & Te due to the very volatile nature of these two metals at low temperature.

20x
Image created with Bausch & Lomb Stereo Zoom #5 microscope, coupled to a ccd camera and computer.
Equal portions of:
Color = Too much shadow due to single light source – two lights was too bright to capture the reddish & greenish iridescent colors.

Tellurium + Antimony

Te + Sb
Image taken with 35mm camera and a 135mm lens, set at macro for close-up focusing, shutter speed = 1/125th of second in cloudy conditions using 200 film and developed by Kodak 1 hour commercial lab and then digitized.
Color = accurate
The white sublimate is almost completely covering the brownish sublimate color of Te.

Sb + Te with Bismuth Flux to expose the peach red of Sb.
Some brown sublimate of the Te is noticeable furtherest away from heat source indicating how volatile Te actually is. The yellow color is primarily due to sulphur. The radiating dark spots are Te fragments being blown away and deposited.
Image taken with 35mm camera and a 135mm lens, set at macro for close-up focusing, shutter speed = 1/125th of second in cloudy conditions using 200 film and developed by Kodak 1 hour commercial lab and then digitized.
Color = accurate

20x
Sb + Te – Top of button, indicating crystalline pattern and before being exposed to sublimate tests.
Image created with Bausch & Lomb Stereo Zoom #5 microscope, coupled to a ccd camera and computer.
Color = Close to accurate in direct light. Some of the well lighted area has a slight pinkish color which is due to my hand being too close when holding/moving the glass slide around that this metal bead rests upon.

Lead + Tellurium

Pb + Te
Image taken with 35mm camera and a 135mm lens, set at macro for close-up focusing, shutter speed = 1/125th of second in cloudy conditions using 200 film and developed by Kodak 1 hour commercial lab and then digitized.
Color = accurate
Very low oxidizing heat was used, which demonstrates how easily Pb & Te melt. In fact, if much heat is used there is considerable spitting of particles jumping out of the melt, which appear to be Te.

20x
Pb + Te
Does not want to form a sphere, but seems to prefer flattening and running like water.
Image created with Bausch & Lomb Stereo Zoom #5 microscope, coupled to a ccd camera and computer.
Color = Close to accurate, but the light source and subsequent shadow makes this image appear to have a brownish cast, which it does not.

20x
Pb + Te – Top of button prior to sublimate test. Notice that it prefers to flatten out and the only reason that it has this shape is due to the concave formation of the clay dish these two metals were melted within. The primary reason for posting these metal images is to provide some clues as to the crystalline nature of mixed metals.
Image created with Bausch & Lomb Stereo Zoom #5 microscope, coupled to a ccd camera and computer.
Color = The area better lighted is accurate, where the shadowed area creates a brownish look.

20x
Pb + Te – Top of button prior to sublimate test. Notice that it prefers to flatten out and the only reason that it has this shape is due to the concave formation of the clay dish these two metals were melted within. The primary reason for posting these metal images is to provide some clues as to the crystalline nature of mixed metals.
Image created with Bausch & Lomb Stereo Zoom #5 microscope, coupled to a ccd camera and computer.
Color = The area better lighted is accurate, where the shadowed area creates a brownish look.

40x
Pb+Te Top of button (same button as preceding image) to provide more detail of crystal patterns.
Image created with Bausch & Lomb Stereo Zoom #5 microscope, coupled to a ccd camera and computer.
Color = Partially accurate, except the reddish tone due to reflected light from my fingers touching the glass slide this metal bead rests upon.

Lead + Tellurium + Antimony + Silver

Pb+Te+Sb+Ag
Image taken with 35mm camera and a 135mm lens, set at macro for close-up focusing, shutter speed = 1/125th of second in cloudy conditions using 200 film and developed by Kodak 1 hour commercial lab and then digitized.
Color = accurate
Very little heat was applied.
The white sublimate is primarily the oxide of antimony with minor amounts of intermixed brown that does not show well.
It should be remembered that there are always two sets of colors generated – those due to heat and those remaining colors when cold. I have also noticed that over time many of the sublimate colors have a strong tendency to completely fade away. So, generally I have tried when conditions permitted to have slightly warm tablets when images are captured on film, but, generally, most pictures are when tablets are at ambient temperature.

20x
Pb+Ag+Te+Sb – Top of bead prior to being exposed to this sublimate test.
Minor crystalline formations indicated but much more drastic in next image, partially due to the slower cooling than what the surface was exposed to.
Image created with Bausch & Lomb Stereo Zoom #5 microscope, coupled to a ccd camera and computer.
Color = Too much brown due to light & shadows.

20x
Pb+Ag+Te+Sb – Bottom of bead as the preceding image prior to being exposed to sublimate test
Image created with Bausch & Lomb Stereo Zoom #5 microscope, coupled to a ccd camera and computer.
Color = Almost accurate a little too much brown coloration due to lighting.

Tellurium+Silver+Lead+Antimony+Bismuth

Te+Ag+Pb+Sb+Bi
Image taken with 35mm camera and a 135mm lens, set at macro for close-up focusing, shutter speed = 1/125th of second in cloudy conditions using 200 film and developed by Kodak 1 hour commercial lab and then digitized.
Color = accurate
White sublimate color of the Antimony Predominates with some brown of the Tellurium. Te does not show colors well on blackened plaster tablets nor charcoal sticks.

Te+Ag+Pb+Sb+Bi
Image taken with 35mm camera and a 135mm lens, set at macro for close-up focusing, shutter speed = 1/125th of second in cloudy conditions using 200 film and developed by Kodak 1 hour commercial lab and then digitized.
Color = accurate
White sublimate color of the Antimony Predominates with some brown of the Tellurium. Te does not show colors well on blackened plaster tablets nor charcoal sticks.

Tellurium with gold and silver

Depending upon length of time the oxidizing flame is exposed to metal will determine the amount of sublimates. This image demonstrates that prolonged heat at #3 & #4 has volatilized much of the Te leaving closest to heat source the colored sublimates of gold (lavender) and silver (brownish). The whitish areas of the #2 plaster tablet is actually metallic Te that has produced a brilliant mirror.
Image obtained with 35mm camera and a 135mm lens, set at macro for close-up focusing, shutter speed = 1/125th of second in cloudy conditions using 200 film and developed by Kodak 1 hour commercial lab and then digitized.
Colors = accurate

Tellurium

Te metal on a blackened plaster tablet and exposed to the oxidizing flame of the hand-held propane torch.
The white sublimate is very typical of Te. Prolonged use of the flame will volatize this white sublimate, which is not able to be seen on a non-blackened plaster tablet.
Colors = accurate
Image obtained with 35mm camera and a 135mm lens, set at macro for close-up focusing, shutter speed = 1/125th of second in semi-cloudy conditions using 200 film and developed by a CVS Kodak 1 hour processing lab and then digitized. I have tried using various commercial film processing and found them all wanting except CVS pharmacy.

Tellurium

Tellurium metal particles mixed with Bismuth Flux (KI & S) and exposed to a short blast of the oxidizing and reducing flame of the propane torch.
There appears to be a pinkish color on both tablets, which I did not notice during the test. Re-examining these two tablets I could not detect this pink color, but colors often fade after a few hours or several days, so in order to be sure if this pinkish color is present or not I will likely have to re-run this test. Doing tests over may seem like a waste of time, but for me I always learn something new, so I don’t mind the extra time and trouble.
Normally, this type of Bi flux test would not be made on a known purity metal, but I simply wanted to see what kind of results would be generated.
The reason for two different dates is because I often run a series of batches of different minerals utilizing torch settings for my own information.
Colors = accurate except for the pink tinges.
Image obtained with 35mm camera and a 135mm lens, set at macro for close-up focusing, shutter speed = 1/125th of second in semi-cloudy conditions using 200 film and developed by a CVS Kodak 1 hour processing lab and then digitized. I have tried using various commercial film processing and found them all wanting except CVS pharmacy.