• One long straight quartz point, well-formed with good symmetry, and a shorter point partially grown at an angle into its base. Both points have a light mint-green colored opaque tip, which fades to colorless. The majority of the point is colorless, and glows brightly.
  • Detail of the small dark spheres composing the lines across the smaller quartz point. They are just under the surface, breaking the surface of the quartz. Some are included inside.
  • A different angle of the point back-lit so the colorless quartz shines. The smaller point is catching light through it and glows brightly. The piece is also zig-zagged with fine white and dark lines, The dark composed of small spots.
  • Another side of the point, less translucent due to a light white overgrowth on the face. Fine black lines cross the bottom diagonally.
  • Another side of the point with light reflected off it, showing the sheen. This side only has one black line, and has a small bruise os damaged crystal near the tip.
  • Detail of the smaller point and dark sphere pattern, showing some bumpy spheres inside the quartz crystal
  • Detail of the smaller point, showing the black lines are composed of small radial-growth spheres grown into the surface of the quartz, in a dark olive-green tinted black color.
  • Detail of the broken end of the points, two intergrown hexagons. The interior of the points is glassy and colorless and there is a frosty crust on the outside
  • Scale image of the point on a measuring mat, showing it is nearly 3 inches long, inclusive of angled broken base
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Inner Mongolian quartz point pair tinted with hedenbergite

Inner Mongolian quartz point pair tinted with hedenbergite

$38.00 USD
$38.00 USD
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Locale: HuangGangLiang mining district, Inner Mongolia, China

Approx point length: 2.75"

Approx weight: 32g

 

These quartz points are from HuangGangLiang, and commonly called Mongolian or Inner Mongolian quartz. When the primary inclusion is hedenbergite, enough to give the quartz a greenish tint, it is more appropriately called hedenbergite quartz. In this specimen, a small amount of hedenbergite inclusions produces a lovely mint green hue in the tip of each point, with a quick gradient to colorless quartz. This isn't your typically shiny quartz crystal; it has a frosted luster with a sheen effect, producing a ghostly appearance.

This pair of points is one of my favorites of the Inner Mongolian material because of its excellent form and super clean coloration. The way it catches light makes it seem to glow from within. The broken ends reveal the first generation of growth was icy clear colorless quartz. A second generation of growth occurred, depositing a coating of cloudy included quartz on the surface.

The point is striped with thin angular dark and white lines. The white is a small amount of calcite, which will fluoresce under 365nm UV light. Looking closely, the dark lines are composed of spheres that appear a dark olive green color and almost metallic luster with radial growth. I suspect it could be epidote but admit even with magnification my eyes aren’t good enough to tell—email me if you know about this material, I’d love to learn more! 

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