Amethyst (''Cactus'' Amethyst)

Item Description

This is a lovely and three-dimensional display specimen of the so-called "Cactus Amethyst" or "Spirit Quartz" from South Africa. This material first hit the market in the mid 2000s, and really made a splash with collectors, especially Quartz enthusiasts. This piece features beautiful, lustrous, drusy, translucent lilac crystals of Amethyst sitting on an earlier generation of Quartz. The terminations are isolated, while the body of the crystals have a prickly, "cactus" appearance with an overgrowth of smaller crystals along the prisms. Boekenhoutshoek is the true source for the Amethystine Quartz, erroneously marketed at first as being from the Magaliesberg Range. The largest crystal on the specimen measures 3.9 cm long. There is one broken crystal on the piece, but it's still in great condition overall.