Smoky Quartz (found at 13,000 feet) (ex Willard Wulff Collection)

Item Description

This specimen comes from the collection of Willard W. Wulff (1904-1998) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, a prominent figure and collector of Colorado minerals. Wulff was one of the founding members of the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society in 1936. You can read Willard's bio on the Mineralogical Record website here ( http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=1528 ). The piece comes with a typed label from Wulff on one of his famous 3x5 index cards that states the piece was collected by Don Lawrie. This piece was discovered along the famous Pikes Peak Highway which is a 19 mile stretch of road that takes you directly to the very top of the mountain. Interestingly, there is no point higher in the United States east of Pikes Peak, and the mountain is only 12 miles west of downtown Colorado Springs. The label states that this specimen was found at Mile 16, and I was actually able to find a photo online taken from this point, so you can get a feeling for how elevated, narrow and winding this highway truly is ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikes_Peak_Highway#/media/File:Pikes_Peak_Highway.jpg ). The piece itself features a few very well-formed, sharp, lustrous, rich "Morion" colored Smoky Quartz crystals free of matrix. Noiw the piece is not damage free, and the color is incredibly rich, so it doesn't really pass light, but it was found 13,000 feet above sea level on one of the most recognizable mountains in the United States. It's a decent reference quality, historic time specimen dating back probably around 50-60 years. A desirable piece (in terms of the locality) from this noteworthy collection.