Description

This is a doubly-terminated parallel-growth crystal of light smoky quartz, hosting many sharp tan-coloured zircon crystals up to 0.9 cm. The zircon crystals are sharp and lustrous  (sparkly, actually) – there are a few larger ones and many more small ones. There is a particularly interesting one with a right-angle arrangement (seen in the one close-up photo) – I feel this is parallel growth habit and not any kind of twinning, though it sure looks neat. The quartz is sharp, lustrous and has nice transparency at the one termination. In excellent condition – no damage except to a couple of tiny zircons, visible with magnification. There is an irregular zircon surface in one spot but it shows a crystallization pattern – also, there are cracks visible with magnification that seem to relate to sometime back in the specimen’s geological history – whether a brecciation event or perhaps something similar.

It’s not every day you see a specimen of sharp lustrous zircon crystals perched on a complete, floater aggregate of doubly-terminated smoky quartz crystals. Very cool.