I often get questions about polished crystal and how it differs from natural crystal. When I talk about polished crystal I am referring to crystal which has had its sides and or faces cut and polished with a machine (like the crystals in the image above, (photo credit curiogrove.com)).
Natural crystal is crystal which has not had its shape altered and remains the same as it was when it grew in the earth (like the crystals in the photo below).
Sometimes crystal is polished because of surface dings or marring caused from the mining process. Lots of Brazilian points come to us completely polished; termination, bottom, and sides. At times just one side or face and the base (which is usually beveled as well), will be polished while the rest of the crystal is left in its natural state. Sometimes the crystal points are so damaged that they would be unusable (due to sharp edges, etc), so in these cases it is really beneficial and best for the crystal that they do this.
Many times a point will be polished into a Generator (six equal faces with a centrally located point) or even Channeler or Dow. However, while the termination may have been ground or polished externally into that shape, the internal structure is still going to