Quartz with Iron Oxides

Item Description

An aesthetic cluster of sparkling, elegant, yellow Quartz crystals that are uniquely tinted by iron oxides from the Boekenhoutshoek area of South Africa, found in the early-2000s era finds. At least three dozen slender prismatic Quartz crystals from 1.5 to 8 cm in length are randomly, but artistically, oriented on this attractive cluster. All of the Quartz prisms show a preferential druse of a second generation overgrowth of sparkly Quartz crystals on the prism faces only that just add dramatically to the piece. The entire specimen is then coated in a splendid yellow-orange coating of Goethite that imparts a barely perceptible, and very alluring iridescence to the piece. This is seen mostly while moving it in the hand, or by moving your eyes as you look at it, changing the angle and watching the light play off the faces - especially noticeable on the bare Quartz terminations. Just a stunningly attractive piece! So far as we know, only one small pocket of this style of material was found sometime in the early 2000s. This is from the famous Cactus Quartz locality, as those specimens are marketed, but just form a unique find there. It is a stunning, three-dimensional cabinet piece. Erika Pohl loved Quartz and had several large trophy cases devoted only to African quartz varieties, of which this was one of them. This was a major specimen in the best-of-locality quartz suite of Charlie Key, the legendary collector and dealer specializing in African minerals (1960s-early 2000s), among others. He sold his general collection to myself and Marshall Sussman. However, he sold his personal Quartz collection, including a large suite of these and a large suite of Brandberg material, to Marshall Sussman. The Sussmans kept this inherited core African quartz collection intact for a number of years, and built it larger before finally selling most of it as a single huge deal to a representative agent for Dr. Pohl. She then incorporated the key specimens, such as this, into her own existing suites. So this specimen is Charlie Key and Sussman collections, before passing to Pohl - excellent provenance! However, the quality, beauty, and color speaks for itself. We have never seen one THIS good of this style. I have nothing as good, to say is a modern comparable. It stands on its own visual merits, with the provenance as a bonus. The piece surely stands on its own, but at the same time, the core pieces from these key collections will be notable, always.