Smoky Quartz with Albite, Schorl and Spessartine - image 1

Smoky Quartz with Albite, Schorl and Spessartine - image 2

Smoky Quartz with Albite, Schorl and Spessartine - image 4

Smoky Quartz with Albite, Schorl and Spessartine - image 5

Smoky Quartz with Albite, Schorl and Spessartine

Unknown Owner

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An incredibly attractive combination specimen that displays well from multiple sides, featuring all of these pegmatite minerals together on beautiful smoky quartz crystals! This combo-piece from the Shigar Valley in Pakistan consists of a commanding cluster of gemmy, medium smoky-colored, sharply formed and well-terminated smoky quartz crystals from 3.5 to 6.0+ cm in length. On one side, the quartz crystals are augmented by two, bright white, very isolated and euhedral albite crystals; and just around the corner on the piece, there are jet-black schorl tourmaline crystals and a single, super bright and gemmy, dark red-orange trapezohedral spessartine garnet crystal. The quartz crystals are grouped as columns rising from the bottom and become distinctly more smoky approaching the tips of the crystals (the smoky color was caused by natural irradiation over millions of years when it was in the ground, and actually is rare from this part of the world). A distinctive and pretty pegmatite combination piece containing all of the mineral building blocks of a good pocket on one display specimen! Long held in the personal collection of Herb Obodda, the dealer who brought this and so much else, out of that region.