Marcasite on Quartz

Considering the decent size of both the Marcasite and primary Quartz crystal, this is a remarkably compact miniature and a showy specimen. Micro-crystallised Marcasite forms two spherical masses over a group of mainly hidden, opaque milky Quartz crystals from Wheal Jane, close to the city of Truro in Cornwall. The dominant Marcasite sphere measures 3.5 x 2.5 x 2.5 cm hence, and more precisely, an oblate spheroid. The Marcasite appears light grey with a slightly gold-tinted speckled surface. Under low magnification (a x5 loupe) the surface is a crystalline microcosm of metallic greyish-silver plates, rods and flattened stellate crystals, displaying both four and five-fold symmetry. The milky Quartz crystals are partly visible around the edges of the base, with one showy, typically Cornish Quartz crystal, 2 cm wide and protruding 2.5 cm, with a perfect termination. This crystal has smooth termination faces and fascinating, epitaxial, multiple crystal faces covering the prism sides. This great miniature is ex. the Mike Brooke Collection.