Clear Quartz Tumbled 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.

How do I look after them?
A wipe with a soft cloth is all they need. At Mohs 7 they are among the hardest-wearing stones here, and stable in daylight.

1. Carried in a pocket or a bag, or held in the hand.
2. Kept in a small dish, on a desk, or on a shelf - each stone is a little different.
3. Wipe with a soft cloth; the most hard-wearing stones here, stable in daylight.

Each stone is tumble-polished and unique, so a set varies a little stone to stone. Many keep a stone where they will see it each day, or carry one in a pocket; that is a matter of preference.

Pocket stones to keep and carry. Wipe with a soft cloth; hard-wearing at Mohs 7. Keep them together in a pouch so harder edges do not scratch softer stones.

• Stone: Clear Quartz · rock crystal
• Hardness: Mohs 7
• Character: Transparent colourless · internal veils common
• Property: Piezoelectric
• Form: Tumbled stones · polished, each unique · sold in a set
• 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.