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There is no official register of gem-quality minerals. No commission rules on it, no standard defines it, and the same

Tourmaline is the mineral group that chemists complain about. Its formula is so accommodating that early mineralogists joked it read

There are roughly 6,000 recognised mineral species on Earth, and about 100 more get added every year. That number is

In 1756 the Swedish mineralogist Axel Cronstedt heated an unfamiliar mineral with a blowpipe and watched it froth and bubble

Amethyst is one of the few minerals that will visibly change on your shelf. Leave a good purple cluster on

Two listings, same mineral, same locality. One is a single crystal. The other is eighteen pieces for less than twice

If you picked a random cubic metre of continental crust and analysed it, the most abundant mineral in it would

Calcium carbonate is not a complicated chemical formula. CaCO3. Three elements. And yet calcite has more described crystal forms than

A tumbled stone looks like the least complicated object in a rock shop. It is actually one of the most

Most minerals are things you look at. Apatite is a mineral you are made of. A mineral that grows inside