Scintillating St. George Cross Staurolite Specimen

This harmonious & beautiful 1.65" wide Scintillating St. George Cross Staurolite Specimen, weighing .85 ounces, or 24 grams, is a wonderfully balanced example of the complex Staurolite crystal formation, and comes from Keivy, a city in the Kola Peninsula of far Northern Russia. True Staurolite like this specimen easily scratches glass. Staurolite is an extremely hard, insoluble mineral formed from iron magnesium aluminum silicate, naturally occurring as reddish-brown orthorhombic crystals embedded in a matrix of metamorphic rocks high in iron and aluminium. The high hematite content gives Staurolite crystals their characteristic reddish brown color. Hematite is a reddish-brown mineral, also known as ferric oxide, an important variety of iron ore. Hematite comes from the Greek words haimatites lithos or bloodlike stone. Staurolite: The Stone of Legends Staurolite is known as the Fairy Stone or Fairy Cross, and was said by some to be the crystallized tears of fairies, bereft on hear