Mineral Specimen #202 Faden Quartz
Wana, South Waziristan, Pakistan
This is a very complex Quartz specimen. There is one very large, thick, twinned crystal which has attached to one of its sides different groupings or stacks of faden Quartz. The term faden in German means "thread" and refers to a white line which runs through a group of parallel growing crystals. The different groups/stacks of faden crystals are aligned at different angles from each other (I count 5 different alignments). The actual faden line is very distinct in some groups and hard to find in others. The large crystal also has smaller crystals in alignment with it at each end. Some of the groups/stacks of crystals exhibit gwendel curvature. This came from a large lot of faden Quartz from this location I purchased; only this specimen had a single large flat crystal of this habit and only this specimen had so many different angles of orientation of the faden crystals.
It was hard to photograph the specimen to show its complexity. Clicking on each picture below will link to the the original sized picture which will be a little better than twice as large. At this size, more detail is revealed and it is easier to see the individual crystals. (Remember to click the image a second time to see the image at full size if your browser automatically re-sizes it). The second picture is the best for showing the individual groupings.
The specimen is in relatively good condition with some chipping on the edges of the main crystal and one lagre chip at the "bottom" of the main crystal which is not visible in the photos. The main point of attachemnet is on the right side in these photos. There is only one broken crystal (3rd picture, right of center, 1/3 way down from top) which may be another point of attachment. There are some internal cleavages in the main crystal and a few of the secondary crystals. Again, clicking on the below images for the large image will better reveal any flaws in the specimen.
13.2 x 7.3 x 5 cm
$175 100-199
click on images to enlargen
