Colorado "smokey" quartz is found many places and sizes are very large at times.
This one being a large cabinet size piece.
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Another fairly large piece (cabinet size) with an amazing combination of goethite.
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And this 345 lb. monster crystal also found in Teller county Colorado.


Colorado smokey quartz also facets out very nicely!


Enjoy

that peice is extreamly beautifull!

Glad you like it Russ, some of the faceted smokey quartz are very pretty.
Here's another small smokey with a couple tiny smokey's formed right on the main crystal. This one should be really pretty once put through the cleaning processes. The tabby crystal is hard to see but it is terminated and the main crystal looks like it may be mended on the right end into many small terminations.
For more info and details about Quartz, visit the Colorado Prospector quartz page.


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We'll post some more pics after cleaning too.

Here is a sweet little Colorado smokey quartz with a small tabby on the bottom. This specimen is as small as a quarter. This one will clean up nicely!!
Pics of front and back side...

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I'm curious as to know how in the hell did you excavate that 345 pounder?

How long/wide is it?

Did you hafta take it out in pieces or it came out like that?

And how do you get it from its home location to a car/truck without breaking it?

I wish I extracted that one! That smokey was found on the Godsend Claim in 2002 and they created a special harness to pull it out. You can get more details at the thread I started titled 345lb. smokey quartz. More sweet finds can be seen in the Crystal Digging thread. Some great finds in there!! Crystal digging is my favorite!!

Just trying to answer your questions the best I can. That was actually many digs in the "Crystal Digging" thread. Those guys/gals have many years of digging under their belts and get really serious about it. They are very careful and patient about pulling them out and not break them.

Denise

Super cool. That first pic is huge

I remember when they were extracting the big one hanging in the hole in the crystal digging thread. He was worried about it dropping while he was working on getting it out, so he put a bucket with a flannel over the it right under the smokey just in case if it dropped. Love seeing them pulled out and cleaned up but is much more of a rush seeing it still hanging in the hole.

Mrs. CP,
Isn't that 345-pounder one of the "brother crystals" - both of which now have a permanent home in the Florissant Museum? If not, they have one just like it.

RhodoRose

Yes, but I couldn't remember if the one I pictured was of the larger one or the smaller one.....I'm thinking the smaller?

wow, those are amazing.

Here are a few of the Quartz finds from last year.
The last pic is a surface find that led me to what became my first claim.
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Is the smokey color due to magnetite?

Good question. But no, not magnetite.

Radiation when forming, and long term radiation from radioactive minerals, causes extra free silicon atoms to form, distorting the light.

Amazonite gets it's color when Microcline(feldspar) forms with extra LEAD and Water, and is then bombarded by radiation.

That is why Amazonite and Smokies are found together often.

Wow! Amazing earth! Thanks Dave!

Well I saw Mike's post and had to go dig some quartz thursday. Still no amethyst from this site and no enhydros this time. But did get a few nice thumbnail plate specimens. Still need some cleaning. Gotta get more super iron out.
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Those cluster specimens are nice! They will be stunning if you can get them to clean up.

Nice finds llamabox!