Chalcedony from Mines and Deposits in the Herkimer Mining District
The chalcedony quartz is generally not very commonly a well developed (or preserved) mineral episode in the the
host limestone rocks that are the birthplace of the Herkimer diamonds. And when it does occur it is often covered
over by quartz or other minerals. This has made it quite difficult to identify until 2015 when I saw the new stalagtite
finds from the the Paradise Falls deposit. That helped to put into place other features I hade seen throughout the
district. It’s pretty easy to get a myopic view about Herkimer diamonds if you’ve worked only one mine (or area).
Click on the button next - to see the hydrocarbon page
Best Website for Herkimer Diamond Information - Made Possible by Collector Donations
Chalcedony Shows
Variation Across the
District
The chalcedony quartz, when it is
found not totally covered by latter
quartz, shows quite a bit of
variation. At DA it appears as a
thin layer, most often white, on top
of phase one druze. At TCR it is
well developed, at times .5cm
thick, and forms rounded mounds
that look like “snow balls” when
white. An interesting occurrence
at TCR was a turquoise colored
chalcedony looking material which
may have been chrysocolla.
Paradise Falls will likely yield
spectacular specimens of
chalcedony sometime in the
future. The stalagtite form, often
black as opposed to the white
domes from TCR, can reach 5 cm
in length. There can be multiple
stalagtites on one specimen with
some curving into one another. I
expect to be adding more images
to this page in the near future.
The information, and photography, on this website is copyright protected
by W. David Hoisington, Ph. D. unless another author/photographer is cited.
Welcome to the New Herkimer Diamond Story!
Return often and follow this developing story. Refresh your
browser (right click) to see new updates
What’s New was last updated
Contribute to Herkimer
Diamond research and
have your name below!
Thank you Shannon Haley
Wilbur for the donation of 30
samples from the Fonda
region.1/05/2019 and 3/2/2019
Check out her Facebook.