Quartz - Beautiful Variety

I thought I'd write about different types of gemstones, since I've been seeing a LOT of misinformation out there. I'll start with Quartz, because it's common, pretty, popular and there are lots of different types of Quartz gemstones:

Amethyst - purple quartz

Aventurine - greenish translucent chalcedony

Carnelian - red chalcedony

Cat's Eye - chatoyant

Chalcedony - microcrystalline quartz

Chert - cryptocrystalline quartz

Chrysoprase - apple green chalcedony

Citrine - yellow quartz

Flint - microcrystalline quartz

Hornstone - flint

Jasper - red or brown chalcedony

Moss Agate - variety of chaledony with inclusions

Plasma - green chalcedony

Prase - leek green chalcedony

Rock Crystal - clear quartz

Rose Quartz - rose pink colored quartz

Sapphire Quartz - blue colored quartz

Smoky Quartz - brown to black quartz

Tiger Eye - pseudomorph of asbestos The worst thing I've been seeing lately are colored glass stones sold as quartz. These are generally given "fruity" names: strawberry, pineapple, cherry, blueberry quartz, etc., or sometimes just colors (aqua quartz, ruby quartz, pink quartz, etc.) But these are NOT "quartz" at all, but manufactured glass! There IS a genuine "lemon quartz" however, which is a sort of greenish golden color, different from citrine, shown here: