Minerals:  Smoky Quartz, Zircon, Feldspar
Locality: Mount Malosa, Zomba, Malawi
Dimensions: 196mm x 38mm x 33mm (approx)
Weight: 320g
Provenance: ex. Mala Haslem Collection

This huge smoky quartz from Mount Malosa has an almost megalithic presence for the locality, a double terminated form and an unusually complex gathering of associated minerals and secondary growth.

At 196mm long the crystal is substantial, with deep smoky colour, strong lustre and a long tapered profile. Both ends show developed natural growth, while the main body carries a combination of healed textures, penetrations, etching and irregular surface features that become increasingly complex when examined closely.

Scattered throughout the crystal are several small blocky to tabular mineral inclusions, some of which appear consistent with zircon, an association known from Mount Malosa material. Feldspar is also present, together with finer sprays and pale mineral growth through parts of the specimen. These associations are distributed through and across the quartz rather than being confined to a single area, giving the piece an extraordinary amount of detail from one end to the other.

The contrast between dense smoky quartz, clearer internal areas, embedded mineral growth and the numerous healed and etched surfaces makes the specimen difficult to fully capture in photographs. In hand, the scale and complexity are considerably more apparent.

This is one of those specimens where almost every section offers something different to explore. The combination of extraordinary size for the locality, near double termination, complex mineral associations and highly developed surface growth makes it one of the most unusual Mount Malosa quartz specimens we have handled.