Amethyst "Pineapple" - unusual locality (Meieran Coll.)

Item Description

Amethyst is for some reason quite rare from China, despite the vast land area. A few deposits are known. Some older specimens of this style came out of Sichuan in the early 2000s, and most modern specimens come from Hubei or Anhui Provinces. This seems an older piece, and it is a "hollow pineapple" in shape, with a gorgeous spray of really lustrous, lavender or pastel colored crystals. The color is often called amethystine, in the gem trade, and has a bright and pleasing softness to it. The crystals show all kinds of interesting detail on close examination, with hopper faces and growth patterns. It is nearly pristine and 360 degrees all around, except only a few damaged crystals in the smaller sizes, amongst the larger ones (and those, the damage is luckily on the backside of the tops, not facing forward). So, this displays beautifully. From the traces of hematite-stained pocket clay still in crevasses here, we know this cabinet sized display specimen has never even been to the lab for cleaning! It will improve! From the Quartz suite of the gem collection of Gene Meieran, and valued $5000-7500. This is 1060 grams, just over a kilogram in size and mass!