The Herkimer Diamond variety of Quartz, often just called Herkimer Diamonds or Herks, are found in a roughly 40 mile wide region of upstate New York, from just east of Herkimer to Fonda. The Little Falls Dolostone that runs through the region is made up of limestone, dolostone, and sandstone with vuggy beds of dolomite, calcite, anthraxolite, and quartz. Algal stromatolites are also found among the stones and minerals. This limestone and dolostone deposit is from
The Cambrian Age. It was formed 500 million years ago!
Herkimer diamond crystals form in cavities in the host rock that are often lined with intricate drusy quartz crystals, like the inside of a geode. These unique formations, when excavated well, can sit like mountain ranges and reflect light like little disco balls.
Drusy specimens make amazing collection additions.
Dolostone is extremely hard rock, and takes a lot of hard work, dedication, steel, and tools to work your way in to the rock to reach these pockets of shiny treasure! Short and long-handled sledgehammers, chisels, steel for caping, pry bars of every length - including a few that crazy heavy and taller than me, and a steady stream of flathead screwdrivers and buckets covers the basics of the tools needed. In some locations, including ours, hand held power tools can be used as well. These allow us to break up the biggest boulders and haul them out of our workspace to a rubble pile (tailings).
The hard work sometimes covers all of the bases of sacrifice… blood, sweat, and tears… but that moment when your screwdriver sinks in to an open space while
clearing the area where you’ve moved a chunk of rock away… when you hit a pocket! It’s such a rush, and you never know what you might find. Some pockets you may only find calcite or hydrocarbon (anthraxolite), but other pockets you might find a Herkimer Diamond Quartz crystal as big as your hand, or as clear as pure water, or handfuls of them of all shapes, sizes, clarities and habits.
Herkimer diamonds have 18 natural facets, three sets of 6. They are doubly terminated as a result of the crystals growing with very little or no contact with their host rock. Doubly terminated crystals are very rare, which is what makes Herkimer diamonds amazing creations of nature. They are very popular with mineral collectors and metaphysical healers.
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