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--- Silicates index
Quartz crystals
Quartz has transparent or translucent hexagonal crystals, either with a sharp point, or a flat edge. All edges tend to be sharp and the surfaces smooth. They are often packed together, growing in parallel. Single crystals can be broken off and sold, like these.
Quartz crystals come in many different sizes. The specimen on the left is also in the photograph on the right, so you can see how big the large crystal is!
Ghost crystal
On the left is another crystal formation. A crystal has formed, then stopped, then carried on growing. This forms the "ghost" of a crustal inside.
Herkimer Diamond
From the specimens on this page, you can see the normal shape of a quartz crystal. This specimen on the right is a Herkimer Diamond. This is NOT a diamond, but a special crystal of quartz, which is double terminated (has a point at both ends). They are found at Little Falls, New York.
Larger pictures of Quartz crystals:
Herkimer diamond.
Ghost crystal.
