Quartz ps. after Calcite

Crinnis mine is situated by the coast to the south east of St. Austell at Carlyon Bay, just east of Charlestown (named for Philip Rashleigh’s brother). The mine extracted copper from a relatively shallow depth and by 1830 had produced around 70,000 tons of copper ore. The mine is well known amongst collectors for its well-defined pseudomorphs of Quartz after Calcite. This small miniature is a fine example, displaying pure snow-white pseudomorphed scalenohedral crystals totally encrusted in a fine coating of sparkling, sucrosic Quartz micro-crystals. The underside is hollow, forming a epimorph of the now dissolved original Calcite crystals. This lovey example is from the Mike Brooke Collection.