Smoky Quartz (GEM "Gwindel") (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

An old time / historic specimen of fine quality Smoky Quartz in the classic "Gwindel" (German word for "twist") habit from the Swiss Alps. Val Giuv (formerly Val Giuf) is one of the classic Swiss locales for fine Quartz specimens, and this piece is a great example of this famous material as it is incredibly lustroua nd WATER CLEAR with a rich "Morion" color in reflected light, but when the piece is backlit, it shows a gorgeous cognac hue. The fact that it is so transparent really helps the color glow inside. The piece shows a slight "twist", when viewed from above. Now the piece is not damage free, it does have some contacts on the terminations, but the internal gemminess and rich color make up for it in my mind. The specimen comes with three old historic labels, including one from A. Berger who stated it came from Dr. A. Lechner of Vienna. The other two labels have no former collection attributions, but this is an OLD specimen of this classic and highly sought after material from Switzerland. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#11270). Kay is a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics (see the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien Welt" November-December 2017).