Alpine Treasures 31
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The crystal habit of this quartz specimen is very much unique showing odd angles wherever you look! As a doubly terminated floater it has only one re-crystallized contact at the back and is otherwise complete and sharply defined! Condition is extremely good with only very few minuscule abrasions and no actual damage. A very nice and attractive specimen of glassy and lustrous quartz that shows this exceptionally striking shape!
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This cluster of gemmy green titanite crystals is heavily covered with chlorite but shows great gemmy patches and super-lustrous zones, primarily on the larger crystals at the top. The horizontal crystal that is prominent in the picture is 3 cm long, doubly terminated, razor sharp and of absolutely stunning quality. Our picture nicely shows how brilliant zones all over the piece catch the light and reflect it with beautiful apple-green coloring!
Picture one shows the piece with backlight illumination, picture two is in natural light only.
Hornspitze, Mitterbachtal, Ahrntal, South-Tirol, Italy
Size: 7.8 x 6.8 x 4.2 cm
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Hornspitze is a mountain right on the border between Austria and Italy (or, if you prefer, between North Tyrol and South Tyrol) that is surrounded by a harsh glacial landscape. Minerals from this locale are rare but this very specimen is just wonderful! The matrix is crystallized with feldspar and quartz micro-crystals on all sides, even the bottom, which makes this a floater specimen. Along the ridge there are several transparent quartz crystals up to 5.3 cm long and flawless. A lovely specimen with a distinctive outline and great quality overall!
Roter Mann, Kleines Fleißtal, Goldberggruppe, Hohe Tauern, Carinthia, Austria
Size: 13.5 x 8.9 x 7.7 cm
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The massive, stocky shape of this exceptionally dark smoky quartz is totally unique for the locale! The whole piece is in excellent condition with a completely crystallized underside and almost no wear or abrasions! The quartz has a dark and warm brown color that is visible throughout the thick glassy body. Save for some internal cracks the interior is all transparent and really amazing! The surface shows beautiful structures all around and very best luster. There are hardly any smoky quartz specimens from the eastern Alps that compare to this striking crystal from the northern face of Roter Mann!
Grieswies, Rauris, Pinzgau, Salzburg, Austria
Size: 10.1 x 6.8 x 3.5 cm
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This is an extremely nice and sculpturesque exemplar of Alpine pericline that is composed of lustrous off-white crystals, towering upon each other and held together by some silery mica-schist and rusty brown limonite on the backside. The overall aesthetics is very intriguing and elegant, condition is outstanding!
Val Nalps, Vorderrhein, Tujetsch, Graubünden, Switzerland
Size: 5.1 x 4.3 x 3.5 cm
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This is a rare fluorite specimen from the Nalps valley that shows exceptional transparency and very nice pink color at the center! The piece shows an interesting two-generation growth. The first generation fluorite is pink and has green chlorite all over its surface. Its backside has crystallized white feldspar.
On top of the original fluorite is a second generation of fluorite which is colorless, well developed and shows very good luster and a nice surface structure. Unusual growth, nice quality and very good condition all come together on this appealing specimen. There is a small abrasion at the tip but the rest is complete and in superb condition.
Fibbia, Fontana, Central St. Gotthard Massif, Ticino, Switzerland
Size: 3.4 x 2.8 x 1.9 cm
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As you can see in the pictures both front and backside of this iron-rose specimen are extremely well defined, free standing and show mirroring luster! The hematite is attached to a small, very well proportioned piece of rock matrix with sparkling albite and quartz micro-crystals. Everything is in outstanding condition and shows perfectly beautiful and enchanting aesthetics!
Erfurter Steig, Rauris, Pinzgau, Salzburg, Austria
Size: 11.3 x 6.2 x 6.1 cm
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It's a combination of quartz with numerous adularia crystals that completely cover the lower end of the specimen. The main quartz has a visible size of 8.6 x 2.3 cm. At its side you can see two quartz stumps of broken crystals but which are completely re-crystallized with very nice structures. The whole specimen is in very good condition.
Leckbachrinne, Habachtal, Pinzgau, Salzburg, Austria
Size: 7.9 x 4.8 x 3.6 cm
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Very characteristic for the famous Leckbachrinne in Habachtal this specimen presents a great contrast of dark silvery mica schist and a single, intensively green and gemmy emerald. The crystal is 1.9 x 0.7 cm in size and shows a fantastic emerald-green color. It is free of damage and has a frosted surface. A well proportioned specimen from Europes best locality for emerald crystals!
Cavradi, Val Curnera, Tujetsch, Graubünden, Switzerland
Size: 7.5 x 6.5 x 5 cm
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Cavradi is known to have yielded some very fine Alpine adularia. This is an excellent exemplar for the material with a main crystal that is around 4.5 cm across and of superb quality! The well defined adularia is gemmy and lustrous and in best condition. It is set on a rock matrix with sparkling microcrystals of adularia, quartz and hematite as well as a 2.5 cm adularia side-crystal.
Floitengrund, Zillertal, Tyrol, Austria
Size: 10.8 x 5.7 x 2.7 cm
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This quartz specimen shows sceptre habit and a slight purple tinge at the termination both of which is characteristic for the locale. It has a nice surface structure all over with very good luster. The backside is almost totally contacted where the crystal seemingly grew on a flat surface. At the left side, right below the main termination, there is a damaged/contacted patch which seems mostly but not completely re-healed.
Amertal, Mittersill, Pinzgau, Salzburg, Austria
Size: 4.1 x 2 x 1.3 cm
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This is a very fine titanite crystal with adularia at its side which is exceptionally rare! The crystal is in remarkably well condition with hardly any abrasion at all and it is really well developed like a sharp arrow head.
Attached to the side are a couple of sharp white adularia crystals which prominently stick out due to the stark contrast. (Picture 1 is taken with backlight, pictures 2-4 are taken in natural light only)