My standard for crystal storage at and above TL 11 (i.e. Standard IMperial
spread) is a disc approximately the diameter of a USA 25-cent piece and
about 3mm thick, with imprinting on one side and a small set of notches
on the other to identify the type of crystal reader the disc works on,
like music, video, holo, or data (note the moronic insistence on different
crystals for different types of machines in the Imperial Encyclopedia).
This makes them convenient, easily stacked and stored, and allows for a
whole gamut of nifty packaging devices for various sorts of crystals. The
one disadvantage of the circular shape is orientation difficulties, but
it would be simple enough to make the connections axially symmetric....
metlay
PS. Haven't had a chance to check the reference to the animal Mark mentioned...