Large Smoky Quartz & Cleavelandite (Lee Burnett Coll.)

Item Description

An impressive gem 7.3 x 5.2 x 3.3 cm, light smoky quartz crystal is dramatically set on the sculptural large matrix of bladed cleavelandite rosettes and small smokies from the famous Little Three Mine. The pristine, sharply terminated, tabular, stepped-growth, hexagonal smoky has three glass-clear prism faces and three frosted matte-lustre faces. All of the termination faces are frosted with matte-lustre. The underlying matrix includes sections of a classic reddish-orange spessartine garnet and a schorl, as a bonus. The Ramona District is for famous for gem-grade and specimen-grade topaz and spessartine, and has also produced fine tourmaline and smoky quartz specimens. This artistic piece dates to the Louis Spalding collecting era of the 1970s and 80s. See the 2002 Mineralogical Record article in Vol. 33, No. 5. Ex Lee Burnett Collection of Morrison, Colorado. A classic large smoky quartz and cleavelandite combination with excellent aesthetics.