Quartz

specimen number:
2062517

location:
Zinggenstocke, Guttannen, Bern, Switzerland

description:
An attractive example for this classic Alpine material. The specimen consists of a loose floater grouping of glassy pale smoky crystals of quartz, these forming what is known as a gwindel. Very slight micro-damage present in one area as shown up close in the video, this still in very good condition all around. This sits perfectly by itself or display. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark. He obtained the specimen from well-known California dealers Fraziers Minerals in 1982.

The Zinggenstocke in Guttannen, Bern, Switzerland, is a historic alpine mineral locality set within the granitic and granodioritic rocks of the Aar Massif, where open tension fissures formed during late tectonic mountain uplift. Historic records note that the location was actively worked for quartz between 1719 and 1740, yielding large quantities of raw material before commercial operations eventually wound down, though private mineral collectors still search the area today.

Quartz gwindels are a rare growth habit featuring a twisted or spiraled crystal lattice that creates a distinctive curved, comb-like, or tabular shape. They form in alpine-type fissures under slow, asymmetric tectonic stress during crystal development, causing the crystal lattice to rotate incrementally along an axis rather than forming through simple breakage, healing, or conventional twinning.

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