On all continents, in the sand of the seashore, in fissures in the Alps—everywhere quartz is to be found, the most ubiquitous mineral on our earth. The reason for this is that silicon dioxide penetrated throughout the entire magmatic cycle and participated, as quartz, in all stages of rock and mineral formation. In gem quality, [...]
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Birthstones have ancient origins and even today wearing your birthstone is thought to bring luck. Particular gems were in earlier times connected to the twelve zodiacal periods though they are now ordered into calendar months; this has resulted in some discrepancies between different jewellers’ lists of birthstones, but they have been standardized as follows. Alternatives [...]
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This large and miscellaneous collection of gems are all crystalline or micro-crystalline silicas of one kind or another. Silica is one of the commonest substances in the earth’s crust and it has been calculated that quartz represents 12 per cent of all rocks on the earth. By no means all this quartz is usable for [...]
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