Snowflake Obsidian is formed when the felsic lava from a volcano rapidly cools down with very minimum crystal growth. It’s basically a volcanic glass that formed as an igneous rock. Snowflake Obsidian is usually black in color, with white patches called Phenocryst. It resembles snowflakes, hence the name. It’s also known as White Snowflake Obsidian and […]
Smoky Quartz is a natural variety of Quartz, one of the most common and popular crystals in nature. While traditional quartz has a clear or whitish cloudy colour, smoky quartz has a grey colour. Some types of smoky quartz are very clear, while others are almost opaque, and some pieces are nearly black. Quartz is the […]
Serpentine is a name for a group of magnesium silicate minerals. Lizardite is the most common species of Serpentine. Typical colors – Green, black-green, brown-red, brown-yellow, white. Serpentine Stones are found in a large number of places including Australia, Britain, Russia, Norway, Italy, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Brazil and the USA. The meaning of the name […]
Selenite is a crystalline variety of the mineral gypsum. It is a very soft mineral which can be easily scratched with a fingernail and therefore not recommended for jewelry, unless looked after very carefully. If placed in water, Selenite will revert to gypsum. Selenite crystals were appreciated by Ancient Greeks who named the transparent or […]
Sardonyx is a variety of Chalcedony. This stone has been found in a large number of locations including Brazil, India, Germany, Uruguay, Russia and USA, but it is said that the best stone comes from India. This stone is type of banded or striped Chalcedony, and is a mixture of Onyx and Orange Carnelian. Also known […]
Sapphire is a variety of Corundum, an aluminum oxide mineral that forms in prismatic tabular, bipyramidal or rhombohedral crystals, as well as granular or massive habits, and may be transparent to opaque. Blue is considered Sapphire’s “true” color and the one most often recognized, though Sapphire does form in a diversity of colors (listed below), […]
Rutilated quartz is a form of clear quartz that is characterized by the presence of “needles” or strands of rutile within the structure of the quartz crystal. Rutile is a titanium dioxide mineral, and sometimes contains large quantities of iron oxide. When the iron oxide content is high, the rutilated quartz may have needles of gold and […]
Anyolite is the name used to describe the naturally occurring combination of Green Zoisite with deep red Ruby stone. The largest deposits of the lovely combination of Ruby Zoisite are in India, but it is also found in Zambia Africa. The Zoisite within the stone is primarily a clear medium green, and it combines well […]
A silicon dioxide crystal, Rose Quartz is one of the most common varieties of the Quartz family. It is found in abundance around the world and occurs only in massive form, with no crystal faces, edges or terminations. It is hazy to translucent, and is usually found in the cores of granite pegmatites. Its name […]
Rhodonite is a manganese inosilicate (chain silicate) and member of the Pyroxenoid group of minerals. It primarily occurs in massive or granular habits, compact groupings, coxcomb aggregates, and rarely as transparent crystals in thick tabular form, often with rounded edges. In massive form, Rhodonite is most often rose-pink to red with black dendritic veins or […]