Rutilated quartz is clear or smoky quartz threaded with needles of rutile, a titanium mineral, in shades of gold, copper, red and silver. The needles can be fine as silk or bold as straw, scattered or bundled into dramatic sprays. Old-fashioned names include Venus hair stone and Cupid's darts, which tells you people have found it romantic for a long time. In some prized pieces, the needles radiate in a star from a dark hematite core. Brazil is by far the main source of fine material.
The quartz host gives it a hardness of 7 and no cleavage, so it wears comfortably every day, though very densely rutilated stones can be a touch more brittle at the needle boundaries. It is cut as cabochons, freeforms and faceted stones alike, always oriented to show the needles at their best. Each stone's golden weather system is unique. Care is easy: warm, soapy water and a soft cloth. Glass imitations exist but their needles look uniform and suspiciously tidy.
Tourmalinated quartz swaps the golden rutile needles for jet-black tourmaline ones.
