Tools of the trade.
Three working surfaces sit alongside the index — one to name a specimen you can't place, one to walk the periodic table by mineral, and one to weigh two candidates side by side.
Identification
Walk an unknown specimen through hardness, lustre, and streak to narrow it to a shortlist of candidates.
Periodic table
Tap an element to see every mineral it forms — iron, copper, silicon, and the exotic ends of the table.
Comparator
Stack two or three minerals side by side and read their physical and optical data in a single row.
Which tool to use
Pick a starting point.
A quick decision table — match what you have in front of you to the tool built for it.
| If you… | Reach for | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| hold a specimen and don't know what it is | Identification | narrowing an unknown by physical tests |
| start from an element or a formula | Periodic table | seeing the mineral families an element forms |
| have two candidates and need to choose | Comparator | reading two or three species in one row |
| are browsing without a target in mind | Faceted search | filtering the whole catalogue by property |