Judging quality
Look for complete bowtie forms with a pearly lustre and warm color. Broken sprays and dull chalky surfaces are common in cheap material.
Zeolite
Stilbite
A zeolite that grows in peach-colored bowtie and sheaf-like sprays, most often alongside apophyllite in Indian basalt pockets.
Care
Soft and fragile. Dust dry, never wash.
History & lore
Zeolites like stilbite were first described from Icelandic basalts in the eighteenth century and are named for how they froth when heated.
Cultural history, recorded as tradition rather than as medical or scientific claim.
Common questions about Stilbite
- What is Stilbite?
- A zeolite that grows in peach-colored bowtie and sheaf-like sprays, most often alongside apophyllite in Indian basalt pockets.
- How hard is Stilbite and what is it made of?
- Stilbite is a Zeolite-family mineral with the composition NaCa4Al9Si27O72·28H2O. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system and rates 3.5-4 on the Mohs hardness scale. It occurs in peach, white, pink.
- Where does Stilbite come from?
- Notable localities for Stilbite include India, Iceland, USA (New Jersey), Scotland.
- How do you tell good Stilbite from filler?
- Look for complete bowtie forms with a pearly lustre and warm color. Broken sprays and dull chalky surfaces are common in cheap material.
- How do you care for Stilbite?
- Soft and fragile. Dust dry, never wash.
See it in person
Photographs only go so far
Both rooms are open six days a week, and there is always someone happy to pull pieces out of the case so you can compare them under the light.