Tibetan Herkimer Diamonds?!?!?! Sounds like a Fat LIE!!

Jeremy,

Sorry that I missed you at the Springfield show. The wife and I were only there on Saturday. I grabbed up my rarities and ran!

Chet

My dad said he thought he saw you, but he wasn't sure. Too bad he told me that after the show or else I would have stopped and chatted. I'll see you in Franklin!

Those Chinese Quartz crystals have been coming out for several years now. Three years ago I had the pleasure of bagging several hundred pounds of them into 1 pound bags. They look a lot like Quartz from Herkimer New York, but they are not as glassy, IMHO.

The deposit in New York is so freakin big, I'm guessing that's exactly what the Chinese deposit is like too. In New York the Quartz containing area is like...60km by 30km...Maybe that's why we never get a better description of the Chinese deposit...

On another note, the largest ones I've seen from China are no larger than 2 inches. Has anyone else seen any larger ones? When you get 10-15 feet down in New York you start getting the really large Quartz crystals...5, 6, 7, 8 inches in size. I haven't seen any from China that size.

All of them were quite small while the New York stuff gets quite big.. I wish I could go back to Herkimer for a second time (It was too wet earlier this summer), I have the Rockhounding bug REAL bad. I wonder if any minerals not found in Herkimer ar found with the Chinese "diamonds". I've been wishing to find something like an association of Herks, Dolomite and Pyrite with Sphalerite, Maybe some euhedral calcite. That would be quite a beautiful specimen in my opinion. I think if more exploration is done in Herkimer, maybe such specimens could be found. There is lots of barren land to be explored up there!

So, how should Herkimer-like quartz should be called ?
I have a bunch of them, coming from Balutchistan. In Pakistan it's called "Diamond Quartz", is it an accepted denomination ?

Just plain Doubl-Terminated Quartz would work, unless they have some sort of local name I am unaware of.

I agree with Jeremy on this. Please remember that "Herkimer Diamond" is simply a nickname - and a local one at that - for double-terminated quartz crystals from a particular area. The *technical* term for these is "double-terminated quartz crystals" - NOT "Herkimer Diamonds."

Regards

Alan

ok, then I'll stick to the local appelation of ** Baluchi "Diamond Quartz" **

I think that would be best, Aymeric. Like "Herkimer Diamond" it gives people information about the origins of the specimens. (Yet I cringe at the use of the word "diamond" as being deceptive - whether for specimens from the Herkimer County area in New York, or for specimens from over in your neck of the woods! :~} )

Regards

Alan

I've been buying lovely'herkimer-like' crystals from an Afghani contact, using them for jewelry the last few years. Largest sizes are maybe 60mm in length. Many of them are also 'in hydro' with awesome little water pockets. I believe they are being dug along the eastern frontier of Afghanastan. They are pretty sparkly but maybe not quite as brilliant on average as the NY variety.
The syndicated price of of the overrated NY Herkimers is crazy. Yeah, they're beautiful but hardly worth paying 20 times as much for them. But hey, that's just my opinion.

Jacob

You pay more for Herkimers not because they are of any better quality (They are though), but because an American dug them out. Obviously, the labor rates in Afghanistan and Pakistan are much higher than in New York State!

Quartz is quartz is quartz is quartz. No way around it. It's Quartz!

quartz is quartz IS quartz!!!!....Justin, I'm glad someone agrees!!!

"Faden" quartz, "elestial" quartz, "gwindel" quartz, "morian", etc., etc., where and when will it end???!!!..."prasiolite amethyst", "green amethyst" , , , , , ,

Hi,

Fadenquarz and Gwindel are names that were allready in use with the Strahler (Strahler is the name for someone who looks for crystals in the Alps, the name originated in Switzerland though nowadays the name is in use throughout the Alpine region, the proper Austrian name for those Strahlers actaully being "Stoasuacha", the French used to call them "Cristalier").
About the strange name "elestial Quartz", to me they are Fensterquarz, also an old Strahler name.
Morion is an old name for very dark smoky Quarz.
These names given to these crystals are not names of Quartz varieties (like Citrine, Amethyst, smoky, Prase etc) but apply to the way of growth, specific habit or twinning.
I know there are a lot of freaky names being given to crystals nowadays, but the names I just mentioned are not a joke, they're names that have been in use ever sinds the first people got out into the mountains to look for crystals.

Salut

Harjo

p.s. a Herkimer-diamond should come from New-York, a Mirabeau-diamant should come from that specific region in France, a Schaumburger-Diamant should come from that region of Germany, they're all the same kind of thing, very clear and lustrus double-terminated Quartz crystals i.e. these names are not generic ones, they are of a geographic nature, so they should be used as such, an "a-diamond" should come from "a", a "b-diamond" should come from "b", a "c-diamond" from "c" etc......

ok, a quick analysis:
the quartzes are dfinitely not italian.
why i can say that?simple!a bracelet with italian herkimers would cost at least 200$ :D

Am bidding on a listed Tibetan Herkimer diamond quartz crystal. How can I be sure this one is from Tibet and not from New York? Please email me at jaelenemorris@yahoo.com in the next 30 minutes if you can. Sorry for the short notice but I just found this site. Thanks for all who may be of some help. Jaelene

Sorry to have just seen your msg., just a LOT late; but, the best way to tell REAL Herks from ALL other "Herks" is to check if they have striations. No striations; they're from NY. Tibetan, Chinese, Mexican, French, German.... they ALL have striations. Only some of the calcite embedded Herks from Fonda have some WEAK striations. If you want to know more, send me an E-ml at stevegarzain@aol.com.

Your friend, Steve

Labelling something "Tibetan" seems to help it sell better to the mystically inclined, but most things labelled "Tibetan" are really from somewhere else.

Uwe Kolitsch Wrote:
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> Jeremy: do you have a ref. for this Chinese
> deposit?


Hello Uwe,

the location is already listed on mindat: Jinkouhe, Leshan Pref., Sichuan, China

Volkmar

wow! I just recognized, how late I am with my comment! I should have had a look at the date....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2012 11:48PM by Volkmar Stingl.

steven garza Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sorry to have just seen your msg., just a LOT
> late; but, the best way to tell REAL Herks from
> ALL other "Herks" is to check if they have
> striations. No striations; they're from NY.
> Tibetan, Chinese, Mexican, French, German.... they
> ALL have striations. Only some of the calcite
> embedded Herks from Fonda have some WEAK
> striations. If you want to know more, send me an
> E-ml at stevegarzain@aol.com.
>
> Your friend, Steve

Are you sure?

I have four pyramidally bi-terminated small Rock Crystals in my personal collection, none of which was bought at the inflated price of 'Herkimer from Herkimer' and two of which (both hydrocarbon included) are from Baluchistan.

Only two are mildly striated, one from Baluchistan and one other. I believe that the one other is probably of synthetic origin (bought retail for GBP 3 for study). I made that tentative attribution not simply on the basis of the rock-bottom retail price in a local store but on the present of striations normal to the C axis (rapidly alternating crystal forms during growth) and also the detection of a just a few microscopic bubbles (not negative crystals) within the specimen, both being features that have been reported as sometimes occurring during synthesis. This specimen, unlike any of the other three, is also clean of any other inclusions at up to x65 magnification.

If you have evidence of Herkimer County being the only source of unstriated double-terminated Rock Crystals (and that it also yields some specimens with bi- and tri-phasic hydroocarbon inclusions, I should be grateful to know about it.

Owen



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2012 07:27PM by Owen Lewis (2).