Large, Terminated Smoky Quartz Crystal
An exceptional smoky quartz crystal with a well-defined termination and a smaller crystal on one side. A third tiny crystal is present below the termination, and an additional, partially developed crystal is embedded into one side.
It seems like there was yet another tiny crystal beneath the main termination, but there's not much of it left now. What is left acts like a natural support (see photo 1).
Very dark brown to almost black varieties of smoky quartz are also known as morion.
The colour of smoky quartz forms when natural radiation from surrounding rock interacts with traces of aluminium within the crystal structure.
The texture of this smoky quartz crystal ranges from rough to smooth, with a colour so dark it appears almost black. It has a vitreous lustre and is a wonderfully unique and distinctive piece.
It comes from the Ouachita (wosh-i-taw) and Ozark Mountains, which stretch from west central Arkansas to southeastern Texas in the United States.
