Quartz with Phenakite

specimen number:
1052639

location:
Czernica, Gmina Dobromierz, Swidnica Co., Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland

description:
A large complete lustrous slightly translucent crystal of smoky quartz. Some damage present as seen. The previous label states that this has phenakite, if it is there I cannot find it. There perhaps extremely tiny. Still a neat locality example, the specimen comes with an antique label as shown at the end of the video and has an original acquisition date of 1909.

The locality of Czernica (Tschirnitz) in Silesia is part of a broader geological region in Lower Silesia renowned for its complex granitic pegmatites, which frequently host high-quality mineral specimens. Geologically, these pegmatites formed during the late stages of the Variscan orogeny as residual, volatile-rich magmas cooled, creating coarse-grained pockets where rare minerals like phenakite could crystallize alongside smoky quartz. Phenakite, a beryllium silicate, is particularly significant in this context as it requires specific geochemical conditions often found in the highly evolved pegmatite fields of the nearby Strzegom-Sobotka Massif. Historically, while large-scale industrial quarrying in Czernica focused on construction materials, mineral collectors and geologists have documented and extracted world-class specimens from these pegmatite veins since the 19th century. Operations peaked during the mid-to-late 1800s and early 1900s, providing a steady supply of crystals to European museums and private collections.

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