Quartz

Unknown Owner

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Distinctive, highly elongated and narrow tapering 'needle' Quartz crystals form an unusual small cabinet display. This unusual piece comes very precisely from 16 Prospect South section of Geevor mine, near St. Just in Cornwall. This famous tin mine now operates as a tourist attraction, but was still actively being mined for tin during the 1970s and 1980s when it is likely that this specimen was found. The Quartz crystals are quite spectacular and reach up to an impressive 5.4 cm in length. They are in parts colourless and transparent (the variety Rock Crystal) but have opaque milky sections, a feature which is very typical of Cornish vein Quartz. Some of the crystals are broken off, but those that remain are in very good condition with fine pyramidal terminations and spray out in many different directions. There are tiny patches of brown Cassiterite at the base of the Quartz crystals and a thin Chlorite base. Ex Bruce Grant Collection, no.192.