Tagged “quartz”
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Chalcedony, agate, and jasper
The fine-grained quartzes are quartz by composition and a different material in the hand: tougher, waxier, and the easiest of all stone to dye.
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Hardness, toughness, and why tools break
Hardness resists scratching. Toughness resists fracturing. They're different properties, and the harder stone is often the one that snaps.
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Amethyst, citrine, and heat treatment
Amethyst's purple is a lattice defect, not a pigment — which is why heat converts it to yellow, and why most commercial citrine started out purple.
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Aventurine, goldstone, and the glitter
Aventurine glitters because of flat mineral flakes inside it. Goldstone glitters because someone put copper in molten glass. They are not the same.
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Rose quartz, and what makes it pink
Rose quartz is a cloudy pink quartz aggregate coloured by microscopic inclusions — which is why the clear, evenly pink version is usually something else.