Description
Detailed Description
A gorgeous doubly-terminated smoky quartz crystal from the small Smoky Mountain finds. Sitting atop a cluster of sharp, bright colourless quartz crystals, this crystal is wonderful, transparent with top lustre. The original label that accompanies it states that it was collected in June, 2016 from the “Glory Hole Pocket”. From the Tracy Kimmel Collection – she acquired it from Kelly Hilmer, whose label accompanies it. In excellent condition – the notch at the termination is a fully crystallized growth feature, with one tiny chip. This is a great specimen from this locality!
About the Smoky Mountain Crystal Mine
The first finds at the locality were made by Kelly Hilmer in 2015, and this claim produced a small number of exquisite specimens in 2015 and 2016. It was considered to be potentially the most important new mineral find in Pennsylvania in 50 years. Kelly Hilmer worked the deposit and named/labelled it the “Smoky Mountain Crystal Mine”, so this is how the specimens are labeled. (Mindat and the article referred to below refer to it as the “Smoky Mountain Crystal Prospect”, which is a good description of the occurrence.)
Despite investment in excavation for specimens with heavy equipment, truly fine specimens proved rare. The occurrence of the crystals is quite unusual – they were found “floating” in a sandy layer above a hard sandstone bedrock. As excavations continued, the occurrence of crystals became very sparse.
John White and his good friend Skip Colflesh attended and worked at the site with Kelly Hilmer, and they ultimately had access to many of the best specimens available. The smoky quartz from this find is a second-generation growth over milky quartz crystals and crystal fragments. It has truly brilliant lustre, as good as it gets. John wrote of the lustre that it is “nothing short of breathtaking, among the best ever seen worldwide.” John’s article on the occurrence is published in Rocks & Minerals Vol 92, no. 4 (July/Aug 2017): 366.
Please Note: the colour representation in the still photographs has been carefully calibrated and adjusted to show an accurate rendition of this specimen in daylight (shade). The colours in the video are not similarly adjusted.
