One of the top examples from a recent find, this is a quartz specimen unearthed sometime within the last 2-3 months. A number of pieces were made available by a wholesaler in Denver, but these were cherry picked by a (discerning) friend before the show, upon their arrival at the wholesaler’s warehouse. While the majority of what I saw in Denver were single crystals, many with chips or damaged terminations, the specimens here represent some of the best from the find.

More importantly, the arrangements are quite beautiful—this one is a crystal with a group of quartz plates positioned attractively near its base.

The crystals themselves are a very interesting color—their cores have segments that are are somewhere between a light smoky and amethystine, with a thick outer rind that is colored faintly green by what I assume are microscopic hedenbergite inclusions. The end result is this very unusual greenish quartz. Unlike many earlier finds, the surfaces on these pieces retain a high luster (not etched, as with most others) but still display the complex faces that care a characteristic of quartzes from this mine.

It is interesting to note that what appears to be calcite on this specimen, is actually quartz that has pseudomorphed calcite.

I got over 70 pieces in this cherry picked lot, this one stood out even among those.