Rock & Mineral Encyclopedia

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

Nephrite

One of the two jade minerals, an amphibole prized for its extreme toughness and soft, waxy green hues used in carving for millennia.

A green, often mottled metamorphic rock formed by the hydration of mantle rocks, soft and waxy with a smooth, slippery feel.

A tough, prized ornamental gem that is actually two distinct minerals, jadeite and nephrite, revered for millennia in many cultures.

The classic green ornamental gem, either jadeite or nephrite, valued for millennia for its toughness and rich color, especially imperial green.

A group of green magnesium silicate minerals with a smooth, waxy feel, often carved and sometimes sold as imitation jade.

A water-bearing massive grossular garnet, usually green or pink, widely used as a tough jade-like carving stone.

A green ornamental stone, often serpentine-rich marble or verde antique, valued for its rich green color and white veining.

A rich green, fuchsite-rich metamorphic rock from southern Africa, prized as a carving and ornamental stone.

A green quartz speckled with shimmering fuchsite mica that produces a glittering aventurescence, popular as an affordable ornamental stone.

The blue-green gem variety of microcline feldspar, often mottled with white, prized as an affordable ornamental stone.