Gallery of Mineral Lusters

Luster is a simple word for a complex thing: the way light interacts with the surface of a mineral. This gallery shows the major types of luster, which range from metallic to dull. No two discussions of luster are the same, and not all the types of luster are equally well defined.

I might call luster the combination of reflectance (shininess) and transparency. In that scheme, here is how the common lusters would come out, allowing some variation:

Metallic: very high reflectance, opaque
Submetallic: medium reflectance, opaque
Adamantine: very high reflectance, transparent
Glassy: high reflectance, transparent or translucent
Resinous: medium reflectance, translucent
Waxy: medium reflectance, translucent or opaque
Pearly: low reflectance, translucent or opaque
Dull: no reflectance, opaque