Rutile on Quartz (ex Brian Lloyd specimen)

Item Description

This specimen comes from Brian Lloyd of London, one of the preeminent European mineral dealers. Among other accomplishments, Brian was responsible for bringing the Sir Robert Ferguson collection to market, along with the Joseph Neeld collection (1789-1856) in 1974 and the historic gold collection of H.S. Gordon. Brian famously purchased the historic dealership formerly known as J.R. Gregory & Company - today known as Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd. The catalogue number on this specimen is 715. The piece was erroneously labeled as "Titanite" from simply Hungary, but I'm certain it's a Rutile crystal, though I cannot ascertain a more accurate locality. The piece features a rich red colored, striated, prismatic crystal of Rutile measuring 1.3 cm sitting smartly on Quartz matrix. The crystal has a complex termination on one end, and looks beautiful up close.