Rock & Mineral Encyclopedia

Search and identify 1,000+ rocks, minerals, crystals, and gemstones — with properties, formation, colors, hardness, and how to tell them apart.

Diamond

The hardest known natural material, a crystalline form of pure carbon prized as the ultimate gemstone for its brilliance and fire.

A colorless, transparent variety of topaz valued as an affordable, hard, brilliant alternative to diamond in jewelry.

The colorless to milky-white variety of beryl, known mineralogically as goshenite and once used to imitate diamond and other gems.

The pure colorless variety of beryl, valued as crystal specimens and as a brilliant alternative to clearer gemstones.

The red, chromium-colored variety of corundum, prized as one of the most valuable colored gemstones and second only to diamond in hardness.

Exceptionally clear, naturally double-terminated quartz crystals from Herkimer County, New York, prized for their diamond-like brilliance.

Tourmaline displaying chatoyancy, a moving band of light caused by parallel tube-like inclusions, when cut as a cabochon.

A transparent, colorless opal that looks like water or jelly, sometimes flashing subtle play-of-color from within.

A banded chalcedony with straight, ribbon-like parallel layers, often cut across the bands for striking striped cabochons.

Rose quartz that displays a six-rayed star (asterism) when cut as a cabochon, caused by microscopic rutile-like inclusions.

Beryl displaying chatoyancy, a bright moving band of light, caused by parallel tube-like inclusions when cut as a cabochon.

A nodular rhyolite geode-like ball whose plain exterior hides a star-shaped agate or chalcedony core when cut.

Aquamarine that shows a bright moving band of light, or cat's eye, caused by parallel needle-like inclusions when cut as a cabochon.

An opal cut to show chatoyancy, a sharp moving band of light like a cat's eye, usually in honey, green or yellow common opal.