Description
Detailed Description
This large cabinet specimen is a major red amethyst. The colour is hard to convey without overdoing it. I colour-balance everything on the website using actual daylight and a calibrated monitor. Daylight tends to give a cooler colour cast – so it’s complimentary to the purple in the amethysts and it’s less complimentary to the reds. With this piece, the effect of daylight and cool LED lighting are almost identical. If your display lighting is anything that is not so cold, the redder hues come out more. For example, under a 50W halogen bulb, these crystals are certainly a richer and deeper hue of red.
The crystals on this piece are razor-sharp, lustrous and up to 3.7 cm across. The cores of the crystals are in fact deep purple, as can bee seen viewed from the side. In excellent condition (miraculous for a piece this size) there is almost no damage at all. There are three tiny termination chips (none remotely distracting) and there are incomplete crystals around the periphery where this specimen was attached to surrounding rock.
There is a crack in the back, part of which looks like it could originate from the brecciation phase, and part of which is certainly fresh and looks to be from the mining extraction effort. Ian was quick to point out that it adds greater value on the basis that it was put there (or perhaps accentuated) by two of the most famous amethyst miners in Canadian history. It is not loose at all, and for greater certainty it has now been reinforced using cyanoacrylate (not visible).
An impressive display piece – it sits up perfectly, tipping the crystals forward somewhat, and is visible from anywhere in the room.
Shipping note: due to the size and weight of this specimen, there will be additional shipping, to cover the cost. If you are ordering from Canada or the US, the automated order form will deduct only the standard fee and I will email you about the additional.
About These Thunder Bay Amethysts
Amethyst from the Thunder Bay District is among the finest in North America, and specimens grace museums and private collections worldwide. The specimens in this group are truly special – they are the top quality Thunder Bay amethyst. Excellent-quality Thunder Bay amethyst is very hard to obtain, primarily because decent-sized vugs collapsed during late-stage formation and post-formation – Mother Nature has damaged the pocket contents before the first human eyes even see them. These specimens are from the collection of David Nicklin, representing the best of all specimens he and his son Ian mined at the Diamond Willow Mine over a period of over 30 years. They are absolutely remarkable for their lustre, colours and lack of damage compared to the vast majority of Thunder Bay amethysts mined over the years. This is a unique opportunity to acquire a Thunder Bay amethyst from a special lot – we don’t expect to be able to see a lot like this again in the future.
Important Note: This lot of Thunder Bay amethyst specimens is being offered jointly with my good friend and collecting partner David Joyce (www.davidkjoyceminerals.com). Different specimens are posted on each of our websites. I hope you will enjoy seeing the ones on his site too: click here.
