Quartz var: Smoky

Item Description

A showy and fine quality display specimen of eye-catching Smoky Quartz crystals from this famous mining area in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico. These are some of the most well-known and fine quality Smoky Quartz crystals from any US locality. This small cabinet specimen is loaded with sharp, lustrous, well-formed, prismatic, rich smoky colored crystals measuring up to 5.0 cm long, with no matrix. The piece is largely crystallized all over, and the only roughness is around the peripheral edges where it was separated from the pocket, but I can't find any major damage to the primary crystals. The crystals are quite gemmy when backlit, and they actually show some interesting color zoning where the smoky hues are deeper/richer in certain areas than others.
From the worldwide mineral collection of Rich ("Dick") Hauck of New Jersey. Dick is an avid collector of minerals, books, and mining memorabilia, along with being an accomplished author in the mineral world. Arguably, his greatest claim to fame is being the co-founder of the Sterling Hill Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, NJ. Dick purchased the land on which the Sterling Hill Mine resides in 1988, and the museum has been running strong since.