Smoky Quartz With Hematite

Unknown Owner

Help improve this recordNo owner is registered for this specimen yet. If it's yours or you know more about it, you can add the owner, provenance, publications and other details.

A superb and unusually large floater, single crystal of smoky quartz, miraculously in excellent condition despite being over 100 years old! Interesting, and I have not seen this often on this form of quartz from here, there are small hematite crystals perched atop, like sprinkles on two faces. Note an inked black arrow on the back of this specimen was made by the early-1900s AMNH curator Gratacap in curating the display specimens from the Bement collection after it was donated to the AMNH by financier JP Morgan, who purchased the collection after Bement's death. The arrow denotes the rear direction on the shelf on which the specimen was to be placed, thus showing its proper orientation on the display shelves of the museum. As the MinRecord archive states, Clarence Sweet Bement was one of the greatest American mineral collectors of all time, from around 1866 to 1900, known for his high level of taste in specimens. Bement #3290, and I am working on getting the original accession information as it has been lost with the specimen now. Click on this link to see a copy of the original early 1900s accession book from the American Museum archives: CLICK HERE