Smoky Quartz var. Gwindel Habit

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This alpine Smoky Quartz really does have everything. It is widely accepted that the pinnacle in alpine Quartz crystals is the 'gwindel', a crystallographic peculiarity whereby several flattened prismatic crystals have grown in a line, but each offset by just enough to produce a twist, or bend in their alignment. Occasionally very large, most examples are chipped in some way on their edges and off-matrix because of the nature of how they were extracted from the crevices, or alpine-type fractures, within the rock. Finding a completely undamaged gwindel is extremely rare, and finding one on matrix even more so. This magnificent cabinet-sized display specimen has not only that - a perfect, damage-free, 5.6 x 3.5 cm gwindel, standing upright on a flat plate of matrix, but it is optically stunning: transparent, with a sumptuous rich brown smoky colour. Added to this, this specimen features many classic terminated prisms of Smoky Quartz, to 2.7 cm, equally as richly coloured and super-gemmy, and all perfectly free of damage. To top things off, a little deep grey-grey Chlorite is scattered across the granitic matrix. An absolute wonder of an alpine Quartz specimen, of the highest calibre.