A highly unusual specimen from the 1970s, this piece is a tall, elegant, combination piece featuring wreaths of rose quartz perched around the tip of an upright quartz single crystal. Small, oriented crystals of albite were later deposited over the middle of the top, on the quartz but between the rose quartz. Overall, just a dramatic and seemingly improbable assemblage that looks as much as anything like a royal scepter, glued together in whimsy. But, it is totally complete all around, unrepaired, and natural - one of the strangest rose quartz specimens I have seen, in fact. From the collection of Hubert De Monmonier (1919-2007), donated by bequest to the University of Arizona Museum to add to their displays; and to provide specimens for the recent sale to establish an endowment fund for museum operations in perpetuity. Joe Budd photos