Natural Strawberry Quartz 0.83ct 6.1mm Round Cut

Where many strawberry quartz stones show their inclusions as separate specks against a clear background, this 6.1mm round is packed densely enough that the red merges into an even dusty-rose body color. Fine red needles and short laths run through the entire stone in a felted, all-over mat, interrupted only by a few small milky-white patches around the center and one bright facet flash on the crown. The effect is closer to a solid pink stone than a transparent one: translucent rather than see-through, and the most uniformly colored piece in the current group.

The color is entirely a matter of inclusion density. The host quartz is colorless; the pink comes from countless red iron oxide platelets, generally hematite and lepidocrocite, packed close enough that the eye blends them into a single tone. This stone is African in origin and untreated, with nothing added or altered. Quartz is 7 on the Mohs scale, and because this piece reads as an even color rather than a pattern, it works particularly well in small settings where a busier inclusion display would just look cluttered, such as a stud or a side stone.

Natural strawberry quartz, 6.1mm round, sold loose.