Strawberry Quartz
Quartz & Crystal Family
Strawberry quartz is a trade name, not a strictly defined gem variety. It usually describes colorless or pale quartz made pink to red by abundant visible inclusions, commonly flakes or plates of hematite; similarly named material can contain other red minerals or be quartzite.
Identity
- Material or variety
- Quartz
- Scientific or material identity
- Quartz
- Classification
- Natural mineral or mineral variety
- Aliases or trade names
- Strawberry crystal
- Composition or formula
- SiO₂
- Crystal system or structure
- Trigonal
- Geological or manufacturing origin
- Can form in more than one geological environment, or combines several materials.
- Mohs hardness
- 7
- Specific gravity
- 2.65
Origins
Mexico · Russia · Kazakhstan
Appearance & optical properties
translucent pink quartz with tiny red speckles.
History & discovery
The name compares the scattered red inclusions with strawberry seeds. Gemological reports documented Mexican material with goethite and lepidocrocite in 1995, hematite-bearing material from Madagascar and Russia, and in 2021 a pink aventurine quartz sold under the same loose market name.
Uses & care
- Common uses
- Depending on transparency and structure, it is faceted, cut as cabochons, made into beads and bangles, or carved into small decorative pieces.
- Handling and cleaning
- Clean with warm water, mild detergent, and a soft brush. Protect the stone from blows and avoid steam or ultrasonic systems when it contains abundant inclusions, fractures, or a granular quartzite structure.
Jewellery
5 pieces of Strawberry Quartz jewellery. Learners earn each one in DigMyGem by learning words; until then it shows as a silhouette.
Strawberry Bloom Ring
Ring
Pink sparkles scatter through the stone like sugar on a berry.
Berry Dust Necklace
Necklace
A necklace of soft pink stones that seem dusted with crushed berries.
Rose Sorbet Earrings
Earrings
Two pink drops dangle like melting sorbet.
Strawberry Heart Brooch
Brooch
An imagined heart-shaped brooch of strawberry quartz, a pink quartz speckled with tiny red flecks like the seeds of the fruit.
Strawberry Fair Tiara
Tiara
An imagined rose-gold tiara of leaves and berries set with strawberry quartz, pink and flecked with red.