Quartz var: Amethyst (''Cactus'' style crystals)

Item Description

A lovely small cabinet sized specimen of what is commonly referred to as "Cactus Amethyst" or "Spirit Quartz" from South Africa. These distinctive piece showed up on the market in the mid 2000s, and were a big hit with collectors, especially Quartz enthusiasts. The unique form doesn't quite resemble anything we've seen previously. Boekenhoutshoek is the true source for the Amethystine Quartz, erroneously marketed at first as being from the Magaliesberg Range. This specimen hosts beautiful little, lustrous, drusy, translucent lilac colored crystals of Amethyst which are growing like little "studs" on an earlier generation of prismatic Amethyst to create the unique style. The pointed pyramidal terminations of the original Quartz crystals at the top of the piece are isolated, while the body of the smaller crystals have a prickly, "cactus" appearance with an overgrowth of smaller crystals along the prisms. No major damage that I can find.