Smokey Quartz on metal stand #2

Smoky quartz is, like the name implies, a variety of quartz. It has a brown to black colour and ranges from opaque to completely see-through. This gives the crystals a smoke-like effect. That makes the origin of the name way less of a mystery. The other name, Morion, is a name for the darkest types of Smoky Quartz, but its also a synonym for the stone in various languages. The colour of natural Smoky quartz is fairly instable and can fade away due to excessive heat or prolonged exposure to UV-radiation. This can be prevented or remedied by irradiating the stone with gamma rays. You can also intensify the colour in natural Smoky Quartz by radiation. The line between Smoky Quartz and other quartz varieties, like Clear Quartz or Citrine, is often very thin and sometimes experts have to use special equipment to find out which one a certain crystal is. In ancient China slices of Smoky Quartz were used as sunglasses.