Dr. C’s Blog about Exploring the Herkimer Mining District
Best Website for Herkimer Diamond Information - Made Possible by Collector Donations
Every year something new is discovered
within the Herkimer Mining District. You
can find these under New Discoveries
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
The blog entries are aimed at presenting non technical discussions of the collaborative work being done on expanding the story of how Herkimer
diamonds were formed. Past blog entries can be viewed by clicking on next at the bottom of the page.
Click Next to See Past Blog Entries:
What’s New!
Updated - 03/09/2019
Contribute to Herkimer
Diamond research and
have your name below!
Donate those Ugly Herkimer Diamonds - 10/09/2018
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.
The 2018 collecting season is coming to a close and it will be time
for Dr. C. to dive back into his laboratory. A new 360 degree
rotating/tilt stage was added to the microscope to make it easier to
find those special shots. The research on Herkimer diamonds is
made possible by donations from collectors. There is a particualr
type of specimen which can be used for research and it’s ugly -
see photo on the right. What is special about this type of
specimen is that it has embedded matrix (yellow *) AND (this is
critical) the quartz over the matrix is totally clear. This doesn’t
mean that the crystal is totally clear, as shown in the photo. it
means that there are clear windows showing the contact of the
quartz with the matrix. Through these windows the early history of
Herkimer diamonds can be discovered, and photographed. An
example, from the specimen on the right, is shown below.
On the left is a photo of a “hopper sphere”, also called birds eye sphere (see new
discoveries). Matrix is labeled with a yellow * (upper left). These hopper features are a
part of the crystal frost event which happened before the growth of Herkimer diamonds.
Ugly specimen donations with clear windows to viewing matrix give us a glimpse into the
past and a better understanding of how Herkimer diamonds were formed.
Photo Request!
In Place Pocket Photos
