Clear Quartz Palm Stone

Clear quartz - rock crystal - is the colourless, transparent variety of quartz: pure crystalline silica, SiO₂. Trigonal. Mohs 7. Its near-absence of colouring impurities is exactly what makes it colourless.

Quartz is piezoelectric: it produces a small electric charge under mechanical stress. The same property keeps time in a quartz watch and serves as a frequency standard in electronics - the genuinely remarkable fact about the material.

It grows from silica-rich water in open cavities over geological time, forming six-sided prisms with pyramidal terminations. The clearest crystals grow slowly into fluid-filled pockets; the internal veils and inclusions in any given stone are a record of that growth.

Asked often

Is it real rock crystal?
Yes - natural crystalline quartz, colourless because it is close to pure silica.

Why are there veils or marks inside the stone?
Those are natural - fractures and inclusions formed as the crystal grew. No two pieces are identical.

Is clear quartz the same as glass?
No. Glass is man-made and amorphous; quartz is a natural crystal, and it is piezoelectric - it carries a small charge under pressure, the property that keeps time in a quartz watch.

Can I keep it on a desk or in a pocket?
Yes - at Mohs 7 it is among the most hard-wearing stones here and stable in daylight. A wipe with a soft cloth is all it needs.

1. Held in the palm, the thumb resting in the face of the stone.
2. Set on a desk or windowsill where the light can pass through it - clear quartz is at its best lit from behind.
3. Carried in a pocket or a bag; it is among the most hard-wearing stones here.
4. Wipe with a soft cloth. Stable in daylight, and it asks the least care of any stone in the range.

Many traditions rinse or air their stones from time to time; that is a matter of preference, and the rest is yours.

A polished stone to keep and to hold. Set it where it will not knock against harder things, and wipe it clean from time to time. Stable in daylight.

• Stone: Clear quartz · rock crystal
• Composition: SiO₂ · silicon dioxide
• Crystal system: Trigonal
• Hardness: Mohs 7
• Character: Transparent, colourless · internal veils common
• Property: Piezoelectric
• Form: Palm stone · shaped and polished
• Origin: Brazil
• Care: Wipe with a soft cloth · stable in daylight

The Greek name krystallos meant "ice." The classical world, Pliny among its writers, believed clear quartz was water frozen beyond thawing - permanent, eternal ice. Across many cultures it has been regarded as the stone of clarity and light, and used in crystal-gazing and divination - a documented historical practice, named here as history.

It has been worked for thousands of years - carved into seals, vessels, and lenses, and ground into burning-glasses that focused the sun to a point. The clearest, most light-filled of the quartz family; what people have read into that clarity for millennia is handed back to you.