Ajoite and Hematite included in Quartz (Halpern Coll.)

Item Description

The Messina Mine is (was) home to these unique and beautiful Quartz crystals included by the rare copper silicate, Ajoite - and these are one of the most famous of all mineral combination specimens for the collector. This style came out in the 1980s and is very distinct to this day (modern finds from a few later pockets are visually different and do not form these vertical parallel clusters). The first generation of Quartz is richly coated by the Ajoite, and then a second generation of Quartz preserves it as a wonderful turquoise-blue phantom within. This is a robust piece with large Quartz crystals and correspondingly large and bright patches of Ajoite highlighted phantoms. The Quartz crystals range from transparent to translucent, with the large crystal in the center being a bit murkier, with variegated bright blue and brownish red (hematite inclusions) at the periphery and the interior. All of the four component Quartz crystals have perfect terminations! The two smaller and gemmier crystals that flank the larger one are super-colorful and accent the central crystal with color! Rarely do you find one of these combination pieces in such good, aesthetic, quality. Ex. Jack Halpern collection and this is the first release of a new group of specimens for sale. Every Jack Mineral is a treasure that he loves equally, most of them for decades, and we are truly honored to present this specimen from another lot of deaccessions from the collection of Jack Halpern of San Francisco (for more info: https://www.irocks.com/the-jack-halpern-collection). By way of guidance, these antique, finely aesthetic, richly colored examples of this material sell, when available, in the $5000-10,000 range.