Quartz "casts" after Calcite on matrixA really cool "cast" (sometimes call an epimorph, but some people are now calling them perimorphs) from our beloved San Juan Mountains of Colorado. This piece is from the famous Mineral Farm locality near Ouray. What I love about this specimen is the fact that multiple generations of crystallization took place. The topmost layer features sparkling, drusy white Quartz crystals which have formed complete "casts" after preexisting scalenohedral Calcite.

but good quality all around

and pieces like this with such fine color and quality are highly desirable among collectors

fine green color crystals with "sword"-shaped terminations and minor altered sandstone

Adularia was defined as a variety of Orthoclase

golden metallic Pyrite matrix

This area was probably best known for its Aquamarines

bright yellow-green hexagonal crystals of Pyromorphite sit atop Sandstone matrix

the species is related to Atacamite

the piece was a gift from Erberto Tealdi (former editor of Rivista Mineralogica Italiana)

but it's still a remarkable and showy large thumbnail / toenail sized specimen of this highly sought after material

The piece is damage free and fine quality for the species

and there is no time to stop to collect minerals