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Mineral Specimens with Quartz
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5.0 x 3.2 x 1.5 cm. An elegant example of this now-familiar combination from Tongbei. A small crystal slants off of a larger one, both richly decorated with jewel-like crystals or orangey-red spessartine.
This is a brilliantly sparkling specimen with tiny, jet-black manganite crystals perched on sparkly quartz druse, itself coating liberally a cluster of basally-terminated rhodochrosite crystals. The contrasts are striking! The rhodo formed as a "cap" of some kind upon an earlier generation of rounded rhodochrosite or calcite, as it has a rounded indentation in the base. This is one of the most breathtaking rhodo thumbnails I have seen. Sure, there are pieces with bigger crystals, and gemmier, but what a combo....! 2.5 x 2.25 x 2.25 cm
WOW! This is a bright and glassy specimen of incredibly clear quartz, featuring an unusually clear 11.5 x 6 x 3 cm gwindel quartz cluster perched astride a single large prismatic quartz point. At the base of that quartz crystal, another prismatic quartz emerges and points off to the left. Finally, a large diagonal quartz crystal extends down between the gwindel and this base crystal, solidly connecting and strengthening the whole piece. The gwindel shows the classic "twisting" of a gwindel quartz in person and is quite easily visible. The quality in terms of form and clarity is nothing short of amazing. This huge specimen has only a few trivial dings that do not detract and is complete save for a contact on the back face of the prism quartz and a small cleave out of the tip. The gwindel itself is complete all around and again, MUCH more dramatic in person. This is definitely one of the finest large Swiss gwindels that I have laid hands on, though admittedly its a bit untraditional because of the clarity and the nice 3-dimensional display. In fact, to display this heavy specimen properly and safely, one really should have a base made for it, which I would provide free of charge if the customer desires. 17 x 13 x 8 cm
A last piece of the one single specimen that had a natural fault in the middle, and cracked apart on the way to me in the mail (though to tell the truth, it was a clunker and I would have trimmed it anyhow)...A superb thumbnail was the result! Note that this specimen was presented to Washington Roebling (1837-1926) on or near his deathbed as a gift from the eminent Dr. Palache. It must have ended up with Roebling's friend Gage shortly thereafter either by further gifting or by sale from the collection. This specimen would come with a color copy of the original label. Originally the mineral was described under the name "lotrite" from the southern Carpathian Mountains (Murgoci, 1901). Charles H. Palache, who in 1920 made the first systematic study of the secondary minerals in the altered copper lodes for the Calumet and Hecla Copper Mining Company, noted a green mineral which he believed to be a new mineral closely related to the zoisite-epidote family. Unaware of Murgoci's earlier work, he submitted a manuscript to Calumet and Hecla describing the "new" mineral, proposing to call it "kearsargeite." B.S.Butler didn't like the name, and Palache changed the manuscript by crossing out "kearsargeite" and penciling in "pumpellyite," in honor of Raphael Pumpelly, the noted l9th century U.S. Geological Survey geologist who made many contributions to the knowledge and understanding of copper minerals and the copper deposits of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Comes with photocopy of original label sold with the larger specimen. 1.5 x 1.5 x 0.5 cm
10.8 x 8.9 x 8.2 cm. This large combination piece of quartz and several bi-colored tourmalines weighs 773 grams. It features two tourmalines to 5 cm each, one with its tip embedded in a quartz (you can see inside the quartz to view it); and one with a freestanding prismatic termination. The contrast of terminations is interesting. Mined in 2006, this was from the end of the modern Pederneira workings.
5.4 x 5.2 x 1.5 cm. This is a superb combination piece, probably from the 1960s-1970s, of gem blue-green indicolite tourmaline perched on a floater quartz crystal. The tourmaline is 5.5 cm long, perfect on the termination, and totally 100% transparent. The piece is simply striking. Ex. Dave Michaels Collection.
13.9 x 6.0 x 4.9 cm. A really interesting variation on the now familiar combination of spessartine garnets with smoky quartz crystals from Tongbei. Here, the smoky quartzes have been coated by hyalite opal in a micro-thin coating - so that the specimen has a unique look as compared to the "usual" Tongbei piece. This style is from only a few pockets, several years ago.
3.8 x 3.2 x 2.1 cm. A fine miniature of something quite hard to get now: Massachusetts amethyst. This is a bright cluster of tightly intergrown crystals, in fine shape (there is some natural matrix contact on one tip). Ex. Richard Hauck Collection.
7.1 x 3.4 x 2.9 cm. This is an exceptional example of this combination from Tongbei: the smoky quartz, rather than being just translucent and/or dull, is Swiss quality in transparency and luster.
8.9 x 7.9 x 5.4 cm. A now-hard-to-obtain amethyst specimen from New Hampshire. It is a large specimen, a compound crystal measuring almost 8 cm from side to side. The luster is superb. Color ranges from milky to very deep purple. This is an old-time specimen out of the Richard Hauck Collection.
8.1 x 2.8 x 2.8 cm. Look closely and you will see that this is an extraordinary crystal of quartz, even for a place that turns it out by the ton. One side face of the larger crystal was damaged naturally in the pocket. Then, it healed, with a new crystal growing right at the place of damage. The larger crystal has glassy clarity: it is optical quality, like water. Ex. Richard Hauck Collection.
7.0 x 2.4 x 1.4 cm. A sharp, glassy crystal of faden quartz, with a very visible faden line running right down the center. They are found in areas of low grade metamorphism in which cavities in the rock are growing. When these zones grow, the quartz crystals in them are broken (repeatedly), and the healing and re-growth incorporates fluid and gaseous inclusions (the white threads). The edges of the crystals grow faster and incorporate the liquid inclusions in the center of the crystals. What makes the fine faden even nicer is the conventional prismatic crystal shooting off it, which has a smaller crystal shooting off of it - and this one too has an even smaller crystal shooting off of it – and finally, a little cluster at the end of that one.
20.9 x 18.9 x 8.4 cm. A cluster of huge quartz crystals from the Elizabeth R. Mine, a California favorite from which it is really hard to get specimens these days. The big crystal here, which shows fine transparency, measures 14 cm. A fatter crystal has grown up against its side. For California quartz from this district, it is hard to find such large, unbroken crystals. Ex. Chuck Houser Collection.
6.8 x 5.9 x 3.8 cm. A fine Tongbei specimen. Here, you have several smoky quartzes crossing one another. They are unusually clear for this locality, and the spessartines are gloriously bright and gemmy. As you can see, the horizontal crystal is doubly-terminated - unusual for these, as they mostly grow up from the matrix. This one grew sideways across the vertical crystal.
8.1 x 4.4 x 2.8 cm. A plate of lustrous crystals of amethyst from Guanajuato, classic old style material now hard to obtain. Ex. Consie Prince Collection.
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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com
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share specimen![Spessartine, Quartz (Var: Smoky Quartz) from Wushan Spessartine Mine, Tongbei, Yunxiao Co., Zhangzhou Prefecture, Fujian Province, China [db_pics/mdpics/MD-213243a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-213243a.jpg)
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![Spessartine, Quartz (Var: Smoky Quartz) from Wushan Spessartine Mine, Tongbei, Yunxiao Co., Zhangzhou Prefecture, Fujian Province, China [db_pics/mdpics/MD-214681a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-214681a.jpg)
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![Quartz from Hot Springs, Garland Co., Arkansas, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-214684b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-214684b.jpg)
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