Description
Detailed Description
From the John S. White quartz collection, this is a fantastic quartz from Shangbao – two intergrown starbursts of quartz crystals. The quartz crystals are the candle/artichoke quartz habit, with many smaller crystals on top of larger underlying ones, and with the resulting appearance of hundreds of tiny crystal faces all over the specimen. This is a very three-dimensional specimen. It is a floater with no point of attachment, and can be appreciated as a 360-degree specimen. In excellent condition. The spot in the middle of the left-hand cluster has a crystallization pattern on the surface, so it dates to a geological time. This is a killer display piece – one of the premier specimens in John’s collection.
About the Shangbao Mine
The Shangbao Mine, which is nestled in a bamboo forest, was originally a small pyrite ore operation. However, commercial mining operations ended decades ago and for many years has been operated for specimens. Today the Shangbao Mine is widely regarded as one of China’s great mineral localities.
