Quartz var: Amethyst

Item Description

Thunder Bay is one of the great North American Quartz localities, producing some iconic specimens (primarily Amethyst) with large, fine quality crystals of superb rich purple color. This piece is from the Panorama Mine and features several very sharp, highly lustrous, stout crystals, measuring up to 3.3 cm, with a saturated purple hue and slight internal gemminess when backlit. The crystals have a slight coating in areas of contrasting orange-brown iron oxide, giving the piece a distinctive character, rarely seen in the material. Usually, the iron oxide from this area is seen as Hematite with more of a deep reddish-hue, so this lighter orange-brown hue is certainly different. Most of the crystals are in very good condition, though the periphery is contacted where the piece was removed from the pocket wall. Still a showy and eye-catching example of these well-known specimens.