Quartz included with Rutile

Unknown Owner

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Rutile and other titanium minerals are rare enough from Switzerland but rutilated quartz, with needle-like rutile crystals of the style seen from Brazil and other quartz locations, are incredibly rare from Swiss locations. In fact, most such "rutilated quartz" are actually astrophyllite or actinolite within, and a legitimate rutilated specimen from the Swiss Alps is nearly impossible to come by. This large plate was provided to brent by his scouts at Siber & Siber in Aathal, and they got it from a previous, older collection. It is a beautiful specimen with sharp, bright, gem-clean crystals of quartz to nearly 4 cm, with bright vertical rutile growth inside. It looks good from either side! One of the last additions to the Swiss collection added only in 2018, he had not been able to get a better one in several decades of looking for such a rarity. NOTE: original label of the previous owner notes a repair and we could not find one by eye - there is nothing visible. however, there IS a thin line of white visible under short wave UV light at the middle, which I take to mean it was stabilized with glue as there is no sign of a crack throughout; although to be candid the previous owner notes it was repaired and we assume it would be at that point. In any case, it is invisibly done if so.