Tungsten is extremely hard, dense and inert. It would make an ideal metal to make tools with except that it also happens to be brittle and just about impossible to give it any sort of shape. Fortunately, with the addition of some cheap carbon you get an alloy that’s a lot more docile to work with while still retaining the hardness. And in this form it’s little surprise that high end tools are often made of tungsten carbide.

Here we have tungsten that was never meant for industrial purposes but grown into an ultrapure crystal for use in electronics where even trace amounts of something-other-than-tungsten spoils its unique properties. These beautiful crystals have an amazing heft while in your hands and sparkle from its tiny facets when held up to a strong light. Each one is around 15mm in diameter and reaches a length of 25-30mm.