Central New York's dolostone pockets yield doubly terminated quartz crystals — the famous "Herkimer diamonds" — at several commercial and public dig sites.
1 spots in New York.
Plan your trip with individual listing pages below — fees, access, and seasonal notes vary by site. Use rockhounding sites near me to sort by GPS, or see all rockhounding sites in New York.
Mohawk Valley dolostone pockets yield doubly terminated quartz — the famous “Herkimer diamonds.” This hub lists 1 related New York directory sites for fee digs and planning context.
These are quartz crystals, not true diamonds. Clarity and natural “faceting” make them beginner favorites at commercial mines that rent tools.
May through September is prime for most fee digs. Bring eye protection even if you rent hammers; matrix work is dusty and physical.
Pair with the Herkimer mines guide, quartz specimen map, and New York state hub for Adirondack and Hudson Valley side trips.
Fee-dig quarries in the Mohawk Valley near Herkimer and Middleville, New York, where doubly terminated quartz crystals known as Herkimer diamonds are broken out of vugs in Cambrian dolomite roughly 500 million years old.
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