Quartz cast after Calcite

Item Description

This is a shockingly well preserved hollow cast of a twinned calcite, now made entirely of quartz. The original calcite is gone. This is famous, old time classic material from the Ouray District of Colorado! This particular piece was said to be self-collected by Ken Roberts, who had many others at the time, and from whom I got this specimen when I bought out his collection a few years ago. Ken was a huge field collector and dealer, in the 1970s-1990s in particular, and he specialized in Colorado material that he found himself. He kept a personal collection of self-collected and of pseudomorphs, both of which fit this specimen. It was a piece he kept long after he sold his worldwide personal collection, and the field-collected material was the last to sell. The large crystal is just over 2 inches tall and what I really find mesmerizing about the piece is that you have this contrast between the razor-sharp central twin, contrasted to the casts after simple scalenohedra next to it. My memory is that there were bigger specimens, but this was the most choice and fine. It is thin and delicate and perfect all around....A fine small cabinet piece. These are difficult to find in quality.