This was one of two of Steve Smale's cabinet sized rose quartzes, which he bought out of a collection in Brazil in 1990 (though it was from the older finds, documented in Bancroft's Gem & Crystal Treasures Book, chapter 47 -page 222); and then he kept it for nearly 20 years. Nothing of such quality as that original find for sheer intensity in these arcing arrays of colorful crystals, has come out since that era, not in any size like this. Steve used to be a practitioner of cibachrome photography and I have his original hand-made 20-inch cibachrome print of the piece. Steve was THE CONSUMMATE collector of Brazilian fine gem crystals for a high standard of taste, and spent 50 years building one of the best collections of them ever put together in the US. He started breaking it up and trading before his move, a few years ago, to teach in Hong Kong (at age 80!). I got this out of him ONLY as part of a large trade for the famous English bournonite in the Ikons book, in 2008. It is a rarified level of quality in Rose Quartz, which is actually more rare than one would think. The color is intense and hot pink, with excellent "sparkle." It is a specimen with an overall appearance that has long met the tastes of one of the strictest and most persnickety of collectors, and I believe it is worthy of any fine collection. Joe Budd Photo.