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ex. Richard Hauck
So-called "solution quartz" from this quarry is supposed to be the best of its type. Solution growth of quartz here produced specimens of a unique brightness and surface sparkle, long prized. I think the moniker has to do with the fact the xls tend to be intergrown with many others in jackstraw groups which are not attached to matrix: The unlikely-looking floater status of these delicate groups thus reflects the fact they were in solution rather than deposited onto country rock. Today, mining of these specimens is done only by (risky) diving using scuba equipment, last I heard. I have not seen any good ones turn up fresh since the 1980s, as well. This specimen is a particularly rich cluster of solution quartz with a dominant crystal ending iin multifaceted terminations. It is mesmerizing, in its complexity at the micro level. And, it happens to be beautiful on a big scale, too! Complete all around, 360 degrees, this specimen is COVERED with crystals. Classic US material, hard to find... According to MinDat: A quarry located at Jeffrey near North Little Rock. Features 3 large, open cuts, now flooded. A rock quarry in Jackfork Sandstone. Started in the 1950's and operated through the 1960's. Reopened in the 1970's for specimens.
ex. Richard Hauck
Nothing fancy about this plain old American quartz - its just a supremely good example of the most common type we see, so good that i was shocked when i saw it and didn't think it could be pristine as well. But, except for a small crysatl contact in the lower rear, it IS pristine and I woul dhave to rank this among the absolute finest Arkansas quartzes for its size that I have seen. The edges are RAZOR RAZOR sharp! It is a common mineral in form and quality enough to grace any collection.
ex. Richard Hauck
A stylish, elegant gwindel with a clearly twisted form, rare in colorless quartz from this locality. For some reason, nearly all are smokies, and a good colorless gwindel of this style is hard to come by. Undamaged, pristine, and complete 360 degrees so that it can be viewed from any side. NOTE: Not from the Hauck Collection. This is from the collection of Dr. Eric Asselborn, but it fit well with this update and so here it is.
ex. Richard Hauck
What an alegant Las Vigas amethyst! Most are small crystals shooting up from matrix, or loose clusters of fatter crystals, but this particular piece strikes me for the geometry, and the aerial perch of the large doubly-terminated crystal right in the middle of the cluster. I think you could spend much more money for a much less interesting example from this locality, that doesn't stand out nearly as much from the crowd as this one. No damage to that large crossbar crystal!
ex. Richard Hauck
An unusual locality piece from this small tourmaline mine, featuring a 7-cm doubly-terminated quartz in a cluster of others, all perched dramatically on a knob of albite crystals. The quartz is GEM, clear and crisp, accented by a sparkling coating of minute secondary crystallization on top of some side faces. the overall effect is really striking. Sold to Hauck by Russ Behnke, for $500 in 1975...it was a premium Brazilian piece then, and I think remains so!
ex. Richard Hauck
A classic Maine amethyst point, with UNUSUALLY good gemminess and translucency to it for the size. Probably an older specimen, though I have no way to tell. All I can say is that this is MUCH MUCH more gemmy and translucent than anything I have seen from hewre in modern times and it is likely to have been mined prior to 1960, I am told. The bottom is cleaved off but the termination, and the upper surfaces ion display, are all pristine and lustrous and intact all around.
ex. Richard Hauck
Purchased form thhe Zewibels in 1970 for $225, this would have ranked quite highly at the very time the finds were coming out to command such a princely price for a little guy at the time. And, by modern standards, it IS a supremely good miniature with incredible transparency, glassy lustre, and fat, pristine crystals in a 360-degree cluster. These are razor sharp and have a brilliant lustre. Fat crystals of this quality have not been found since...lots of long skinny ones, some more purple or more gemmy but not usually both. This is a great mix of quality and aesthetics in unusually robust crystals for the miniature size, and thus stands out from others of more modern style from here, quite dramatically.
ex. Richard Hauck
A very rare specimen from this famous find that has become an American icon of collecting, this is a rather large example for the locality. In fact, its the longest single sceptre I have seen for sale. Most are short and squat. It has a slight ding, almost unnoticeable , on the back left of the termination , or it would be treble the price. Still, it displays well and is an iconic American piece to own and treasure.
ex. Richard Hauck
A pristine , elegant, sparkling cluster of ultra-gemmy quartz, that pics cannot convey. Trust me, if you wanted a great small cab suitable fo rany world class collection, without breaking the bank, this one wouldn't embarrass to own!
ex. Richard Hauck
A rare Arkansas Japan law twin, and of considerable size, too! I am told that this piece was a famous blunder Dick was proud of, acquired in the 1960s from somebody who did not know the rarity of such things and used to illustrate how an awareness of unusual crystallography could help buy value in minerals. This is VERY significant for the locality, for a US quartz twin of this habit. It is unusually big and fat, for Arkansas twins, as well. The piece is complete both sides and has no damage of note save a small conchoidal bruise on the back of the leftmost temrination - a sad fact to be sure, but not visually distracting or significant in context.
ex. Richard Hauck
A beautiful roseate cluster of 3 major crystals to 3 inches, , all with incredible glassy lustre (so slick, it look spolished but isnt!). The color is typical grape-juice color for the locale and pretty rich overall - better in person than it appears here. The piece is not pristine or it would cost 5-fold more, but the damage is limited to a few small dings (not on the main crysatl in any case) and some peripheral contacts at the junction of the crystals. It displays beautifully and is a significant example for the locale. Label dated 1966
ex. Richard Hauck ex. William Vaux
An important historic specimen, these intense lavender-colored amethysts with an almost silky texture to them are few and far between. This miniature has great aesthetics, with real rock matrix as a perch for 1 inch amethysts. It has never been cleaned, and so is a bit "dirty"; but I like the antique look of it. Note the handwritten label from William S. Vaux (1811-1882), whose collection formed the core of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. This piece, obviously, was traded out long ago befor ethe collections there went into storage and were eventually sold to a consortium of mineral dealers recently.
ex. Richard Hauck
This piece, exchanged out of an old collection in the Paterson (New Jersey) museum, is unusual in that the two portions of the Japan Law twin are so asymmetric. The whole piece is a floater with no contact, though it has a little spot of damage on one edge, and also on the tip of the small 2 cm associated prismatic crystal. Really, it can be displayed any which way and is a very different style of twin, from Japan or anywhere!
ex. Richard Hauck
This is a very rare style of quartz where the secondary growth of quartz on the original crystalks attached, for some reaosn, ONLY to three of the prism faces of each previous crystal. The effect is this bizarre style of termination! I had never seen one of these, personally. Interesting for anybody concerned with oddities of quartz growth, I would think!
ex. Eric Asselborn
This is one of my alltime favorite gwindels of any price range because it is so elegant in its composition, with a strongly twisted smoky of total transparency combined with a rich internal brightness, rising vertically from a slim matrix of normal prismatic quartz crystals that contrast the form of the gwindel so starkly. Matrix gwindels are uncommon, especially good ones of this quality - and it is undamaged, pristine, and complete 360 degrees so that it can be viewed from any side. NOTE: Not from the Hauck Collection. This is from the collection of Dr. Eric Asselborn, but it fit well with this update and so here it is.
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