Synthetic Quartz (Motorola Laboratories)

Item Description

Fascinating and rare large synthetic, lab-grown gem tabular quartz crystal used for the telecommunications industry. This important technology was developed by Bell Labs of New Jersey during the late 1940s to 1956, when production began. The technology was later used by Motorola for the same purposes. The water-clear gem crystal has frosted faces all-around, except for the unusual modified water-clear ends. Metal pins at the ends held the natural quartz seed plate used to start the crystal and connect it to electrodes. Essentially pristine, with only gently bruised edges. The piece was acquired by a friend of ours who was on a field trip while attending Penn State University as a geology student to the Motorola Plant in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Mass is 75 grams. We found a few more pieces of this RARE material stashed away.