Smoky Quartz Jewellery

Smoky Quartz (or Smoke Quartz) Crystal, a semi-precious stone, Scotland’s national gem & the underrated dark sister of clear quartz. Much like its sister, Smoky Quartz has been said to have healing powers, provide strength & ward off negativity. In Celtic folklore, druids & fierce Scottish warriors favoured Smoky Quartz Jewellery & talismans for bravery & protection ⚔️ 🤎

Crystal Knowledge Smoky Quartz:

Type

Smoke Quartz or Smoky Quartz is a semi-precious gemstone, a warm brown greyish variety of quartz that gets its colour from natural irradiation with traces of aluminium in the crystal structure.

Colour

Translucent grey to light brown, to almost opaque dark wooden brown or black.

Curiosity:

In 12th-century China women wore sunglasses made of flat panes of Smoke Quartz. 

History

Smoke Quartz is Scotland’s national gem, a country known for its rich history and mystical lore. The ancient celts started to mine Smokey Quartz at Cairngorm Mountains in the Scottish highlands, naming the yellow-brown to greyish-brown crystals Cairngorm and the darker bark brown to black gemstone Morion. Both are common tradenames for Scottish Smoke Quartz today. Smoke Quartz is often seen in traditional Highlander apparel, as weaponry adornments, on kilt pins and shoulder brooches.

In 1837 J. S. Dana introduced the word “Smoky Quartz” to the gem world, naming the stone after its colour similarities to smoke. During the Victorian era, Smoke Quartz was common in Mourning jewellery.

How to tell if a crystal is real:

Smoky Quartz is an abundant crystal and is therefore seldom copied. But sometimes brown-coloured glass products are sold as Smoky Quartz, look for colour shifts, cracks, spots and inclusions in order to identify that you are buying a natural gemstone.

Good to know:

Smoky Quartz comes with different spellings, some write Smoke Quartz, others Smokey Quartz, Smoky Quartz or Smoky-Quartz.

We use both the spelling Smoky Quartz and Smoke Quartz when describing this powerful brown stone.

Birthstone:

Smoky Quartz is not a traditional birthstone.

Zodiac Crystal:

Smoky Quartz is not a traditional zodiac stone.