The Luniferous Gazette #15: The Ancient Sparkle of the Herkimer Diamond

Everyone has a birthstone. But in my family, there is a stone that comes even before that in importance—a Herkimer Diamond. Technically, it is a type of quartz from upstate New York, regaled as the clearest and most lovely, a 7.5 on the Mohs scale of hardness instead of 7.0 like regular quartz as a local explained to me. This crystal is “doubly terminated,” which means it is faceted on both ends, and is strong enough to cut even glass. Fancy.

 

 *A Herkimer Diamond cut into a “Kiss Drop” faceted shape.

When my mother and father married, they tied their fates together with a Herkimer diamond necklace. My father grew up on the East Coast going on mining trips to dig up stones (including geodes and Herkimer diamonds) and had a lifelong passion for all types of minerals. My mother wore the solitaire crystal that he gave her on their wedding day and kept it in a little jewelry box even after its post broke. Years later, the little stone eventually went missing, which really saddened my mother. She was not a huge jewelry wearer, but that one pendant was special to her.

I stopped at Gems Along the Mohawk on a family road trip to New York earlier this month. In a way, it felt like a mini pilgrimage to the beginning of my parents’ story—one that would eventually grow to include my siblings and I, too. This large shopping and visitor center sits beside the Mohawk River. Now, if we had arrived earlier in the day, perhaps we could have booked a river boat trip. But we were there for a sole purpose, anyway: to bask in the concentrated, collective glory of Herkimer Diamonds.

My breath was quite taken away by this (I believe it was 5k?) Herkimer Diamond bonsai tree. If I were ever to become inordinately wealthy, I would be tempted to place one such bedazzling beauty in every window!

Now, one may go on mining excursions in Herkimer to dig up your very own prize crystal, but I’m over forty and was not in the mood for such a muddy expedition. I wanted the already curated sparkle experience—and the excellent pair of shop owners there certainly provided that for their customers and visitors. From them, I learned that Herkimer diamonds can only be found in this one single location on Earth.

When you hold a Herkimer diamond, you’re grasping something that is 500 million-years-old from “the shallow Cambrian sea that once lapped against the southern shores of the ancestral Adirondack mountains” (*Wisdom gleaned from the historical printout kindly provided at the shop).

When I hold a Herkimer Diamond in my hand, I feel like I’m marveling at that last little mote of light from Fantasia that the Child-like Empress cradles in her palm like a precious dream. 

The most flawless Herkimer diamonds are usually no larger than half an inch, a jam-packed glitter-fest that catches and holds the least slant of light in its facets! I guess that is what I like best about them: they’re tiny packets of gleam that refuse to be stamped out by time. 

I didn’t purchase the 5k Herkimer Diamond tree, but this thirty dollar version of crystal perfection will lend a most becoming spark to any windowsill: 

 ~*~ 

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