Aventurine
Quartz filled with glittering mica flakes.
- Family
- Quartz
- Formula
- SiO₂
- Mohs
- 7
- System
- Trigonal
Drag to turn
Science
Aventurine is a quartzite: countless quartz grains cemented together with platy inclusions of chrome-bearing fuchsite mica (green), hematite (orange) or dumortierite (blue). The inclusions produce aventurescence, a metallic glitter as the stone turns.
- Mineral
- Quartz (variety)
- Formula
- SiO₂
- Crystal system
- Trigonal
- Mohs hardness
- 7
- Specific gravity
- 2.65
- Refractive index
- 1.544 to 1.553
- Lustre
- Vitreous
- Colours
- Green, Orange, Blue
Composition
SiO₂. Made of Silicon, Oxygen, with trace Chromium, Iron responsible for colour.
Origin
- IndiaMysore
- Brazil
- Russia
- Tanzania
- Chile
Filled dots are primary sources
Rarity
Common as massive material. Blue aventurine and strongly sparkling green are the better grades.
- 1 Abundant
- 2 Common
- 3 Uncommon
- 4 Rare
- 5 Exceptional
Hardness
Aventurine sits at 7 on the Mohs scale. It will scratch glass and holds a polish in daily wear.
Energy
Associations from crystal-healing tradition, recorded here as folklore. They are not medical claims.
Chakras
- Heart
Element
- Earth
Zodiac
- Aries
- Leo
- Virgo
Planets
- Mercury
- Venus
Properties
- Luck
- Opportunity
- Optimism
- Leadership
Lore
The name comes from aventurine glass, made by accident in 18th-century Venice when copper filings fell into molten glass, per avventura, 'by chance'. The mineral was named for the imitation.
Tibetan statues used it for eyes, and it has long been called the gambler's stone.
- GlitterAventurescence, from aligned mica plates.
- WarningCheap 'aventurine' beads are sometimes glass.