Druse


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Druse refers to a crust of tiny crystals on the surface of a rock or mineral. Druse normally forms as a lining inside a cavity in a rock.

All of the mineral references I have spell the word "druse". You will see many variations on the web however - drusy, druze, druzy, drusies, etc.

Technically druse refers to crystals that are so tiny as to not be distinquishable with the naked eye. As you move the druse, the crystal surfaces cause the stone to sparkle and glitter.

Druse can be transparent quartz crystals that reflect the color of the host it is sitting on, like druse chrysocolla, or it can be another mineral providing a color of its own, like dark blue cornetite druse on chrysocolla.

In the jewelry world, druse is commonly used to refer to any cabochon with a surface coating of crystals, even if they are fairly large.

Shown in the picture above, moving from left to right -
o cornetite druse on chrysocolla with some malachite, from Zaire
o black/dark brown garnet crystal crust on host rock, from Russia
o cobalto calcite from Zaire
o orange calcite druse from Mexico

This picture is druse chrysocolla -


Some popular druses -

Chalcedony Druse is a purplish blue chaldedony druse.

Chrysocolla Druse is a wonderful blue color and reminds me of a sno-cone. It is a crust of tiny transparent quartz crystals over chrysocolla.

Cobalto Calcite Druse is a crust of pink crystals on a host rock. It comes from Zaire, Africa and the pink color is due to cobalt. The mineral is sphaerocobaltite, also called cobalticalcite and cobaltian calcite, which is a cobalt carbonate in the calcite group. It ranges from a light pink to a dark magenta color. The more intense hot pink colors come from purer forms of sphaerocobaltite. The paler pinks either only have trace amounts of cobalt or are intergrown with calcite.

Hemimorphite Druse is a wonderful blue color similar to chrysocolla druse, but a bit paler and brighter. It is a crust of tiny transparent quartz crystals over hemimorphite.

Uvarovite Garnet Druse is a crust of emerald-green garnet crystals on a host rock. It comes from Russia and the green color comes from chromium.