Quartz after Anhydrite

Item Description

A lovely display specimen from the historic San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado. featuring lustrous, sparkling Quartz crystals which have coated and possibly pseudomorphed after a tabular crystal of Anhydrite measuring 2.3 cm, sitting on additional Quartz and host rock matrix. It certainly has a beautiful appearance with a slight orange hue due to iron oxide inclusions, and virtually no damage. It should be noted that for many years, these specimens were labeled as Quartz after Baryte, but given the fact that Baryte is chemically inert and nearly impossible to dissolve, it is a certainty that these are actually Quartz replacing Anhydrite. This information has been confirmed by Dr. Virgil Lueth, formerly of New Mexico Tech.
From the collection of Gary Weaver of Prescott, Arizona (1944-2019). Gary was an electrical engineer who worked for many years for Hughes Aircraft in California. After retiring to Prescott, Arizona in the early 2000s, Gary rekindled his childhood love of minerals, amassing a collection of roughly 2000 specimens focusing on localities in which he and his wife had lived or visited (Mexico, Peru and the western / southwestern United States). You can read Gary's obituary here https://www.dcourier.com/news/2019/apr/27/obituary-gary-richard-weaver/