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

Item Description

A wonderful example of what is commonly referred to as "Cactus Amethyst" or "Spirit Quartz" from South Africa. This piece is a rather showy and three-dimensional cabinet sized display specimen of. These notably attractive and unique specimens made their appearance on the market in the mid 2000s, and really made a splash with collectors, especially Quartz enthusiasts, as the form and overall appearance doesn't quite resemble anything we've seen previously. This showy specimen hosts beautiful, lustrous, drusy, translucent lilac crystals of Amethyst sitting on an earlier generation of prismatic Amethyst to create the unique style. The pointed pyramidal terminations of the original Quartz crystals are isolated, while the body of the crystals have a prickly, "cactus" appearance with an overgrowth of smaller crystals along the prisms. Boekenhoutshoek is the true source for the Amethystine Quartz, erroneously marketed at first as being from the Magaliesberg Range. The largest crystal on the specimen measures 5.2 cm long. No damage that I can find, outside of the periphery where the piece was removed from the pocket wall