Quartz var: Smoky

Item Description

A beautiful and showy display specimen of the famous Smoky Quartz crystals from Lincoln County, New Mexico. No specific locality was given, and it's difficult to accurately place a piece from this area unless you know exactly where it was found. The best of these specimens are beloved for their excellent quality and tip-top crystal morphology. This specimen features a fantastic, glassy, predominant crystal of Smoky Quartz with excellent internal gemminess, along with several smaller crystals on a bit of matrix. A few minor nicks can be seen, but it's so presentable and eye-catching, and small imperfections are not that big of a deal. Wonderful classic material. This piece comes to us from the legendary Ron Romanella (February 28, 1932 - October 24, 2022), a well-known gem and mineral dealer from New York City. He studied mineralogy at Columbia School of Mines, and he was mentored by Dr. Frederick Pough of the American Museum of Natural History, and learned about the business side from well-known mineral dealers Hugh Ford and Maurice Hammoneau. Ron himself was a mentor to other successful East Coast mineral dealers such as Larry Conklin, Herb Obodda and even employed Dave Wilber for a time. He largely transitioned out of selling minerals as his business focused more on gems for the last few decades, and his sons Michael and Jerry have been running the family business in Scottsdale for many years now. With that said, Ron was one of the great powerhouse mineral dealers in the US for many years, offering fine quality specimens and gem crystals from classic and contemporary localities. Among his top achievements, is that Ron is credited with importing the first known crystals of Tanzanite into the US in the 1960s.