This quartz sceptre has a phantom, the surface of which is covered with rich red hexagonal crystals  of hematite. With a bit of magnification, these are really beautiful hematite inclusions. In excellent condition, minor rub at the termination. A great combination from the John S. White quartz collection: a sceptre, a phantom and super inclusions. […]

This crystal has been polished all around, to reveal a truly beautiful phantom showing exquisite textures of the faces beneath the polished surface. A beauty from the John S. White quartz collection. About John S. White (click here)

A quartz crystal with a beautiful internal landscape of deep green clinochlore inclusions.  This crystal seems to have grown in an environment full of clinochlore, as the growth of the quartz was interrupted – as irregular as it is, it is fully crystallized, inhibited from growing out into a regular quartz crystal by the clinochlore. […]

This is one of the best quartz inclusion specimens I’ve ever examined. It is a sliced, polished quartz crystal cross-section. It’s beautiful without magnification, and with magnification it is spectacular. The centre is deep purple amethyst with zoning.  Growing generally outwards from the centre (all the way to the outer margin) are elongated, needle-like hematite […]

This polished quartz crystal features a superb phantom – it is completely 3-D, and from the underside and back one can see how thin it is, as all of the rest of the quartz comprising the specimen is water-clear. In the clear zone above the phantom is an incredibly sharp transparent, colourless rhombohedral inclusion, presumably […]

A polished quartz crystal full of light green elbaite crystals, The elbaite crystals run in all directions and many in the termination area of the quartz crystal are beautifully curved. An elegant inclusion specimen from the John White quartz collection. About John S. White (click here)

This polished quartz crystal hosts a landscape of inclusions – many quartz crystals, along with feathery white aggregates I suspect could be albite together with a mineral from the mica group or the chlorite group. It’s a great specimen without magnification, as the red and white stands out. However, with magnification, you can get lost […]

A polished slice of ametrine from the Anahi Mine. Ametrine is sectorally-zoned quartz, combining zones of amethyst and citrine. This specimen exhibits the idealized colour zoning, where there are three distinct alternating zones of each. It has superb transparency and a very bright polish. An excellent piece from the John S. White quartz collection. About […]

A beautiful small cluster of quartz crystals with hematite inclusions from a little-known Quebec locality. These crystals are sharp with good lustre – the pyramidal faces are highly lustrous. In excellent condition, from the John White quartz collection. About John S. White (click here)

The terminal faces of this quartz crystal are polished to make it easy to see the intricate included molybdenite crystals. This piece is very interesting under magnification – there is a perfect hexagonal plate and a hexagonal rosette, typical of molybdenite, but there are also many crystals that appear trigonal. I don’t know if these […]

A superb specimen of quartz and rutile from the John S. White quartz collection. These parallel quartz crystals are as lustrous as quartz gets – they look wet. The growth of the quartz crystals was limited by the complex lattice of rutile crystals, such that the quartz crystals seem sliced in half along their length, […]

A beautiful complex lattice of rutile crystals in polished quartz. These rutile crystals have bright silvery lustre that really catches the light, looking almost metallic. With magnification, the rutile crystals are very three-dimensional. Of course, enclosed in the quartz every intricate detail is preserved, and the quartz is highly transparent. In addition to rutile, there […]