Quartz

specimen number:
2292306

location:
Amatitlan, Eduardo Neri, Guerrero, Mexico

description:
Attractive crystals of quartz glassy and gemmy coming off matrix. These show attractive internal purple phantom crystals. Classic for this Mexican locality. This is in good condition.

The Amatitlan mining area, located in the Eduardo Neri Municipality of Guerrero, Mexico, is famous among mineral collectors for producing intensely colored amethyst crystals. Geologically, these deposits are skarn systems that formed when silica-rich and iron-bearing hydrothermal fluids from a cooling igneous intrusion invaded surrounding Mesozoic limestone beds, converting the host rock to grossular-andradite garnet and depositing quartz within localized dissolution cavities. This specialized geochemical environment allowed for the growth of highly lustrous, elongated, and sharply zoned purple crystals that often feature deep grape-purple phantoms. Mining operations, consisting primarily of small-scale underground tunneling and artisanal pocket-digging at sites like the La Sopresa and Margareta mines, experienced their most productive periods of specimen extraction during the mid-to-late twentieth century, particularly from the 1960s through the 1980s. Commercial activity and organized specimen recovery at the locality have since become dormant due to regional instability, leaving the site inactive and making historic specimens highly sought after on the secondary market.

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