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smoky quartz - stone of power
One cause of smoky quartz's color may be related to the amount of exposure to [natural] radiation that the stone has undergone. Natural smoky quartz often occurs in granitic rocks which have a small but persistent amount of radioactivity.
Only a few other brown minerals are used as gemstones. They include smoky topaz , the rare black beryl and brown corundum (related to sapphire and ruby).
Crystals can also be smoky-colored from the presence of sodium.
Examples of smoky quartz mined in the Swiss Alps are preserved in Berne's Museum of Natural History. One massive crystal -- named "The King" -- stands thirty-two inches tall and is three feet in diameter.
 the radioactive quartz?
Varying in color from light smoky yellow to very dark smoky brown, smoky quartz is a variety of crystalline quartz closely related to amethyst, citrine, rose quartz and rock crystal.

smoky quartz

Smoky quartz has such an unusual range of colors for a gemstone, that it is one of the more easily recognized stones by the general public. Its exact shade of color is dependent on where the quartz has been mined.
However, most smoky quartz that makes its way to rock shops and gem cutters today has been artificially irradiated to produce its dark color.

smoky quartz on aquamarine crystal
photo: daves...

Although Scotland may come to mind when thinking of smoky quartz, most on the market now comes from Brazil. However, one of the most famous deposits of smoky quartz is in the Swiss Alps.
Because the smoky quartz's color is often variable across the interior of the crystal, it's use as a faceting material is limited. Flawed or varicolored pieces of smoky quartz -- the majority -- are used for carvings, spheres, snuff bottles and other objects d' art.

symbolic attributes

geographic
state gem New Hampshire
national gemScotland
metaphysical
astrological gem Capricorn, Sagittarius