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Mineral Specimens & Crystals Rock

Gandhara Gemstones is one of the best-known sources for fine & rare mineral specimens & crystals rocks. We supply Mineral specimens & crystals from around the world, we stock one of the largest collections of mineral specimens, from European samples to British, Asia, Africa, and more. We have supplied the museums and top private collectors with the best mineral specimens & crystals to have come to the market. We take pride in displaying our finest mineral specimens & crystals for enthusiasts around the world, that is why Gandhara Gemstones has dedicated a section for exquisite mineral specimens and crystals.

We offer an extensive range of high-quality minerals including the common ones such as amethyst, quartz, and garnets to the more elusive such as tourmaline, aquamarine, brokite, ruby, emerald, hematite, fluorite, brocite, apophyllites, bytownite, and olivine to industrial ores including barytes, bauxite, chalcopyrite & sphalerite, etc. Take a look at all we have to offer in this section.

Why collect mineral specimens & crystal rocks?

Mineral specimens and crystals have been collected since ancient times
Gemstones are the wealth of the Earth; each stone is unique and cannot be reproduced. Mineral specimen collecting gained a boost during the Victorian age Queens, Kings, and millionaires across Globe accumulated minerals at a furious pace, often challenging one another for the premium material available.

There are shows and displays in Europe and the US. Some famous places are Denver, Munich, and Tucson which show most of the well-known collectibles.

Demand for minerals is increasing due to the wealth being created in Asia and the opening up of new mining areas located in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Africa, China, and South America.

Mines that vanished for 50 or 100 years are also now being revived and modified just to extract fine mineral specimens. New regions around the world are being discovered by mineral dealers with newly discovered mineral specimens.

What are Mineral Specimens?

Minerals are inorganic, naturally occurring, solids with a specific chemical formula. Minerals are classified based on attributes such as hardness & crystal shape (e.g., hexagonal, cubic). An example is Quartz, the most common mineral in the world, the purple variety of quartz is called amethyst. Its crystal shape is hexagonal and its hardness is 7 (out of 10 on the Moh's scale). Geologists have documented more than 4,000 different species of mineral specimens. Most mineral specimens are very rare and their classification often requires a mineralogist who is trained in the use of a microscope and other techniques

How are Mineral specimens identified?

You will be wondering how experts have identified more than 4,000 minerals. Well, minerals have definite properties or traits that allow geologists to identify them. Minerals can be recognized by their color, cleavage, patina, streak, resistance, specific significance, and even by their element composition. The following guide is intended to assist you in identifying some of the common minerals.

Color of the specimen:

Many minerals occur in various colors or shades of a single color. Thus, color is an easily recognizable characteristic that can be a great starting point when a mineral specimen is evaluated. For example, the minerals gold and pyrite are always metallic yellows in color. Some minerals, for example, quartz, come in a variety of colors, and thus, color is not useful for the identification of those minerals.

It is useful to clean minerals (normally with water) and examine them with a magnifying glass to accurately assess their true color.

Termination:

It is the endpoint of crystals especially the top faces, crystals are considered as terminated if their faces are undamaged or not repaired. In some rare cases, crystals are doubly terminated which means both the top and bottom faces are not damaged. Some minerals have very lustrous termination which increases their value and preciousness.

Patina:

It is the manner in which a mineral replicates the light. Minerals can be illustrated as sharp, pearly, smooth, shiny, greasy, luminous, or dull. For illustration, diamonds are radiant. Talc has a greasy patina, quartz has a smooth luster, and gypsum has a radiant luster. Pyrite or fool’s gold, as it is sometimes referred to, has a sharp luster.

Cleavage:

Cleavage takes place when particular minerals break in an exact way For instance, galena cleaves formed into diminutive cubes while Mica cleaves into emaciated sheets. Calcite cleaves into diagonal bricks and quartz cleaves into uneven chunks.

The resistance of the mineral specimen:

Resistance represents how easy or hard it is to scrape a mineral For example, Talc, the softest mineral identified, can be smashed through your fingernail. Diamond, the hardest mineral, can scrape other minerals but cannot be scraped by them.

The scale consists of ten minerals which are the following:

Talc
Gypsum
Calcite
Fluorite
Apatite
Orthoclase Feldspar
Quartz
Topaz
Corundum
Diamond

Using known examples of these minerals to attempt to scratch mineral samples of unknown identity can be very useful in determining their hardness For example, quartz has a hardness of 7, so any mineral that can be scratched by quartz crystal has a hardness of less than 7. Pocket knives, paper clips, and iron nails generally have a hardness between 5.5 to 6.5. Glass can be scratched by every mineral harder than 5.5. By using these common objects you can determine the hardness of your mineral specimen.
Specific Significance:

The specific significance of a mineral is based on its comparative weight compared to the mass of an equal degree of water. It establishes the solidity of the mineral. Two different minerals may be of similar size, but their mass will be different. Water has a particular significance of one.

Significance of Mineral specimens:

Most of the time mineral resources are not totally consistent in their composition, sometimes they may be too loutish or uneven in size and too pitiable in grade.

Minerals Localities:

Each mineral has multiple localities in which some of the localities are very known such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Brazil, Russia, and Africa. If we consider Tourmaline crystals and Specimens then the best source is Afghanistan and Russia, similarly best Aquamarine crystals and specimens are mostly sourced from Northern areas of Pakistan.