Rutilated Quartz, Black, Natural, Fancy Faceted Cube Beads, One 6mm Strand

Rutilated Quartz, Black, Natural, Faceted Cube Beads, 6mm. 

This price is for one strand 15 to 16 inches long. 

6mm cube bead strands about 40 pieces.

Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silicon and oxygen atoms. Quartz is the second most abundant mineral in Earth's continental crust, behind feldspar.

Rutilated quartz is a variety of quartz which contains acicular (needle-like) inclusions of rutile. An inclusion is any material that becomes trapped inside another mineral when it forms.  These inclusions mostly look golden, but they also can look silver, copper red or deep black. They can be distributed randomly or in bundles. They can be arranged in star patters, and they can be sparse or dense enough to make the quartz body nearly opaque. For most gemstones, inclusions reduce their value. Rutilated Quartz are valued for the quality and beauty of these inclusions. Each rutilated quartz stone features a unique pattern of inclusions, so no two gems are exactly alike.

Rutile Quartz is mined throughout the world with the best examples coming from Australia, Brazil, India, Madagascar, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, and the USA.

Black Rutilated Quartz is a clear Quartz that has black Tourmaline crystal "needles" captured within the stone.  The needles are Tourmaline that has formed within the Quartz.  It is because of the encapsulated black Tourmaline that this is also called Tourmalinated Quartz.

Hardness 7

This is a natural stone that has had no treatment other than cutting, drilling, and polishing in China.