Quartz (''Mango Quartz'') (near ''floater'' specimen)

Item Description

These attractive and unique specimen first appeared on the market in 2017. They immediately made a big splash as they were instantly regarded as some of the most unique Quartz crystals ever found. This distinctive color has given these Quartz crystals the nickname "Mango Quartz", and have become very popular among Quartz collectors and crystal enthusiasts. Typically, Colombia isn't a big Quartz producing country, and these crystals were actually mined along a roadcut in the middle of the famous Emerald mining region in Boyacá. The upper portions of most of these crystals feature bright yellow-orange inclusions of a mineral that was first reported to be Humboltine, but others have since stated it is Halloysite. I cannot find definitive confirmation that the inclusions are Halloysite, only referential posts on various sites online. The Quartz crystals are high quality in their own right, as they are textbook, hexagonal prisms with good internal gemminess, which is only accentuated by the beautiful inclusions. This piece is a lovely crystal group featuring an intersecting pair of crystals with sharp, lustrous faces and of course those eye-catching yellow inclusions. The piece is actually very close to being a complete "floater" because if you look closely, you will see that the bottom end of the Quartz crystal is actually re-crystallized ("re-healed"), so it's virtually crystallized 100% of the way around. I don't know if there will be more of these in the future, so if you're a fan of interesting Quartz specimens or unique inclusion specimens, don't pass this one up, as there are not nearly as many as there were a few years ago. For more information, please see Rocks & Minerals May/June 2019 issue, Vol. 94, No. 3.