Ametrine (polished slab) (ex Dave Bergman Collection)

Item Description

When it comes to Quartz, nearly everyone would agree that it's the species with the most colors and varieties of any mineral in the world. One of my personal favorites is the striking and instantly recognizable variety, Ametrine. The only place in the world where these classic examples are found is the Anahi Mine in the eastern Bolivian jungle, and from what I understand, there has been little production in recent years. The name for this variety comes from a combination of natural purple and yellow Quartz (AMEthyst + ciTRINE). The color regions are formed on opposing rhombohedral faces of a Quartz crystal, resulting in triangular color sections (like wedges of a pie or a pinwheel shape or a radiation symbol). When the Ametrine crystals are sliced across the "c" axis, it's easy to see this beautiful pattern like we see in this polished slice. The piece has beautiful saturated color along with good internal gemminess, and clear separations of color. Please note that these specimens are not from Brazil, but for years a large percentage of the material was sent to Brazil for processing. These pieces left the factories with stickers attached that said "Product of Brazil" on them. In response, the local Bolivian miners started calling Ametrine "Bolivianite" and declared it the national gemstone of their home country. This specimen is a wonderful representation of this classic material and if you collect Quartz, polished pieces or gem material, don't pass this one up. The specimen weighs is 96.81 grams. Ex Dave Bergman Collection. Dave is a Colorado miner (formerly the foreman and primary person in charge of recovering specimens at the famous Sweet Home Mine near Alma, Colorado during the late 1970s) and the maternal grandfather of Brian Kosnar. See Dave's photo mining at the Sweet Home on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures".