Rocksday

Phenakite

A rare, hard beryllium silicate that looks much like quartz.

Phenakite specimen
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How to identify phenakite

  • Clear, glassy crystals — flat rhombohedral or short prisms.
  • Harder than quartz.
  • Often twinned into penetrating crystals.

Often confused with

Where it's found

  • Ural Mountains, Russia
  • Minas Gerais, Brazil
  • Madagascar

Uses

Collector specimens and rare gems.

Rock tumbling

Great for tumbling.

Did you know?

Its name means 'deceiver' in Greek, because it was so often mistaken for quartz.

Think you could spot it from a blurry close-up?

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