Green epidote and clear quartz grown together on one piece, out of eastern Turkey.
Epidote is a sign of rock that has been altered rather than rock that formed this way. It appears where hot fluids have moved through existing stone and rebuilt the minerals already in it, so finding it tells a geologist the ground has been worked on, and roughly how hard.
This came out of the mountains near the Iraqi and Iranian borders, which is some of the most geologically mangled ground anywhere in the region.
Mineral: Epidote (calcium aluminium iron silicate) with quartz (silicon dioxide, SiO₂)
Crystal system: Epidote monoclinic, quartz trigonal
Origin: Hakkâri Province, Turkey
Hardness: 6 to 7 on the Mohs scale; durable overall, though slender epidote crystals snap if knocked
Treatment: None
Dimensions: 18 x 7 x 12 cm
Weight: 1.3 kg
You will receive the exact piece photographed.