Quartz (Gwindel)

Unknown Owner

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I love gwindels! These twisted quartz crystals, at their best, look like blown glass. They are totally different than most quartzes, and much more rare. Somehow, they also seem to be more glassy and lustrous... Alpine gwindels somehow win the mineralogical lottery and gain the freakiest luster you could ask for, as on this piece. The gwindel, or "twisted" quartz in German, also displays at least a 20 degree twist from one side to the other (near the top of the range). It is complete all around except one small and probably in-pocket 5 mm cleave on the back of one edge, about 2/3 from the top on the left side as I would display it (and you do not see that, from the front). Absolutely glassy and limpid, this light smoky quartz gwindel exhibits the qualities that are coveted by mineral collectors in any specimen. This is a classic "open gwindel" of stereotypic form. Mass is 58 grams.