Quartz 'cast' after Calcite

Item Description

A beautiful display specimen of this hard to find material from about 60 miles west of Tucson. This piece features well-defined hollow "casts" of off-white colored sugary / drusy Quartz which have replaced preexisting scalenohedral crystals of Calcite that have completely been dissolved away. The largest "cast" was difficult to measure, but I have it at 3.8 cm long. The piece is rather three-dimensional, and almost gives one the impression of an M.C. Escher painting, as there are small nooks and hollow areas that all seem to be intergrown and leading into one another. It should be noted that I have this phenomenon labeled as a "cast", as there is some debate in the mineral community as to whether these should be called epimorphs, perimorphs, or something completely different. If you collect "casts", minerals of Arizona or unique Quartz specimens, do not pass this one up, as they are rarely offered for sale on the market.