Catalog Search Guide

You can search our catalog using different mineral attributes. For example, you can search by color such as green, yellow or purple, or by chemical elements such as uranium, calcium or iron, or by mineral groups such as phosphate, silicate or carbonate. You can also filter by crystal habit like crystal, geode or crystal on matrix, by specimen size such as thumbnail, small, medium or cabinet, and by features such as radioactive or fluorescent minerals.

Rutile

Rutile is one of the natural polymorphs of titanium dioxide (TiO2), and by far the most common of the group, which also includes anatase and brookite. It forms slender, striated, tetragonal prisms in colors ranging from deep blood-red and reddish-brown to metallic black, prized for an exceptionally high refractive index and adamantine luster. Elbow-shaped and cyclic twins — sixlings and eightlings — are a signature feature of the species, and needle-like inclusions in quartz produce the famous gem material known as rutilated quartz.

Classic type material comes from Horcajuelo de la Sierra in Spain, but collectors prize crystals from a handful of truly exceptional deposits. Graves Mountain, Georgia, USA, has produced the finest mirror-like, stubby crystals ever found, alongside historic American localities like Magnet Cove, Arkansas, Parkesburg, Pennsylvania, and the Champion Mine in California. Brazil supplies extraordinary golden acicular sprays and twins from Novo Horizonte and Diamantina, while alpine clefts of the Binn Valley, St. Gotthard, and Cavradi gorge in Switzerland yield brilliant striated crystals often in epitaxy on hematite. Niobium- and tantalum-rich varieties, ilmenorutile and strüverite, occur in the pegmatites of Madagascar and Mozambique.

Beyond its role as a major titanium ore, rutile is a true connoisseur's mineral: sought for its striking twin geometry, saturated color, and metallic sheen, and treasured whenever paired with kyanite, hematite, or quartz matrix. Fine, well-formed rutile specimens remain relatively scarce on the market, making sharp, lustrous crystals from these historic localities especially desirable for serious mineral collections.