Brookite on Quartz (Ref: 7137)

Here we are looking at a truly excellent alpine Brookite-on-Quartz specimen from Salvan near Saint-Maurice. Salvan is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Valais, a hilly, forested area with a remarkable 116 recognized mineral species. Despite this impressive list, the area is famous among collectors for the superb Brookite found here both between 1970 and 1975 and in more recent discoveries of the last years in quartz-filled crevices in Carboniferous schist. This stunning miniature is the quintessential alpine specimen, with that term being used in both a geographical and depositional context. Numerous intergrown Brookite crystals have developed into a broad, continuous crystal about 1.6 cm in diameter, multiple-terminated in a sawtooth pattern. They are nicely perched on a matrix of glassy Quartz crystals. The Brookite prisms have a wonderful glassy luster, and the entire aggregate is pristine all around. A truly outstanding piece with a high aesthetic impact.