Quartz floater, Amethyst and Smoky, with Lepidocrocite

Item Description

A stunning, doubly-terminated, perfect crystal with quartz showing smoky a quartz and amethyst phantoms within - these are, at their best, surreal specimens. A bonus is the cuff-band of bright red flecks of lepidocrocite, aligned in one direction. This was considered one of the best of the style, showing all 3 quartz colors in one specimen, and was owned by legendary collector Charlie Key. Charlie helped open up Tsumeb, and then was one of the first dealers and collectors focusing on Brandberg and these amazing quartzes, assembling a private collection over 20 years or so in the 1990s-early 2000s. He sold his quartz collection (nearly 400 specimens from here and from Orange River) to Marshall Sussman, who then kept them intact for nearly a decade until an agent of Erika Pohl's made him an offer he could not refuse for his entire collection of Brandberg/Gobobos quartz, which contained Charlie's as the core. Purchased entire out of his living room! I still recall when he called me and told me had had sold his "lifetime, never for sale" collection....including this specimen which was a core piece, and come still with the custom oval base that Sussman preferred for display. It went to Switzerland more than a decade ago, and now returns. This was valued at over $7,500 at the time for the shocking combination of color and pattern,perfection, and quality. Note - this comes with a circular custom lucite base as favored by the Sussman collection display style, in which the crystal can sit horizontally and raised up a bit, to show off both ends.