Herkimer diamonds have a very interesting name, look and history, but are not actually diamonds. These are quartz crystals that have two branches, which creates doubled terminations. Tibetan quartz is double terminated quartz, sometimes with manganese and carbon included.
A normal quartz crystal will grow in a matrix of oxygen and silicon on a tetrahedron plane that shares one oxygen molecule with two tetrahedrons. This creates a crystal that has six sides and that terminates in a six sided pyramid.
With two crystals, this creates an 18 sided crystal with 12 termination sides. It is figured that these crystals grew over long times while confined within small to medium sized cavities called vugs. These cracks, fissures and other hollow formations commonly fill with growing crystals, particularly quartz. Geodes can be called a form of vug.
The Herkimer diamonds are unlike diamonds in that they are not rough, nor do they require polishing to reveal their clarity. They are Quartz, which softer, at a 7 on the Mohs hardness scale while diamonds are a 10 on the Mohs hardness scale.
The name comes from a massive discovery of double quartz crystals in dolomitic rock at Herkimer, New York. Native Americans were the first to discover them. Half a billion years ago, this area was a shallow sea that went through various processes, especially creation of sedimentary rock and intrusion and seepage by water which created the vugs where the quartz crystals were allowed to grow. The resulting hosting rock became called “Dolostone”.
Herkimer diamonds, as a result of their unique environment and processes, can contain other elements, including anthraxolite, or black coal like specks, decayed plant matter and even water bubbles. Then there are all kinds of freaks of nature, including anthraxolite within a water bubble, double clusters, smokies, skeletals, double terminating, and phantoms. To find more images of Herkimer diamonds, simply Google “Herkimer Diamonds”. This should be an ever changing display.
These crystals are also found in Arizona, Afghanistan, Norway, Ukraine and China and are highly prized, based on their rarity, as collectors items as well as for mystical properties that have been assigned to them.
Harmony, healing awareness, ability to start life over and telepathic communication are a few of the assigned qualities based on an ability to receive and transmit energies.
Tibetian quartz is believed to balance the chakras, putting fields of protection around the bearer and is a highly revered and respected spiritual stone.
http://www.herkimerdiamond.com/mining.html
http://geology.com/articles/herkimer-diamonds.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herkimer_diamond
http://www.mythnlynx.com/Herkimer.html
http://soul2soultreasures.com/properties.htm
http://www.healingcrystals.com/Double_Terminated_Quartz_Points__Tibet__-__Extra__Grade.html
