Whitney curator of gems and minerals at the museum.Īll quartz have six sides and end in a point, like pencils, thanks to the how their atoms, silicon and oxygen, lock in place.
At the national museum, this is the perfect specimen to share with visitors because it’s a classic example of an American mineral,” said Gabriela Farfan, an environmental mineralogist and Coralyn W. “There are very few places around the world where you get this quality of clear quartz, especially in such a large cluster. The hefty and glittering mass of crystals, called the Berns Quartz after its donors, was originally discovered at the Coleman Mine in Arkansas in 2016. It may even be one of the heaviest specimens we have,” said Jeffrey Post, mineralogist and curator-in-charge of gems and minerals at the museum. “This is the largest piece of quartz we have in our museum. In its synthetic form, it’s a key ingredient in watches, radios and other electronics.Īlthough quartz is everywhere, an 8,000-pound slab of natural quartz is rare to come by - unless it’s the one now on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. In its natural form, it is the second most common mineral in Earth’s crust and its varieties include amethyst and citrine gems. It was found in an Arkansas mine in 2016, making it a quintessential American mineral specimen.įrom sandstone to gemstones, quartz is everywhere. The museum’s new natural quartz weighs a whopping 8,000 pounds.
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