Quartz (var. Smoky) - image 1

Quartz (var. Smoky)

M

MIM Museum
0 for sale
Gwindel showing a good torsion angle, along with crystals of limpid smoky quartz.

Product details

Species
QuartzAbout Quartz →
Added on11/10/2024
Locality
Switzerland, Grisons, Cavradi gorgeRegional guide →

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Quartz
Mineral guide
Learn about Quartz
a versatile mineral with clear, milky, and colored varieties; crystal forms, formation clues, and tips for identifying amethyst and citrine.
Quartz
Regional guide
Quartz from Cavradi Gorge, Switzerland
Cavradi quartz belongs to the great Alpine-cleft tradition of Switzerland, but it has a personality very much its own. The finest pieces are limpid rock crystal to pale cognac smoky quartz, often sharply terminated, glassy, striated, and attractively poised on gneiss or feldspar matrix. What sets the locality apart for serious collectors is not just quartz alone, but quartz in the Cavradi language: clear crystals carrying mirror-bright tabular hematite, red rutile, adularia, calcite, siderite, and, more rarely, gwindel or amethyst forms. A cabinet of Swiss Alpine quartz can look geographically anonymous until a good Cavradi piece appears; the combination of water-clear quartz, dark metallic hematite, and red rutile has a crisp, high-contrast look that is instantly memorable.