Skeletal Quartz w/ clay inclusions (RARE South Africa) Kidwell Coll.

Item Description

A RARE and dramatic large multi-generational skeletal sceptered quartz crystal from the obscure extinct Straussheim pegmatites, that produced beryl and cassiterite in the 1950s and 60s (mindat). Striking skeletal features with clay inclusions and the myriad of glassy, highly lustrous crystals fantastically highlight the sharply terminated scepter. Underlying second generation milky quartz encloses the first generation smoky quartz stalk. Complete all-around and pristine, the out-of-sight contacts on the back have no damage, per se. The base is crudely terminated, making this a doubly terminated scepter. Ex Al Kidwell Collection and acquired in 1960 from Adi Blignaut. Al was a well-known mineral collector and research geologist with Carter Oil Company and later Exxon Oil Company in Houston, Texas. The phosphate species Kidwellite was named in his honor in 1974. VERY RARE from the locale, as mindat only features one photo of another species in the Photo Gallery.