[Rockhounds] mystery mineral

[DonH]

Pmodreski at aol.com wrote:
> John, you're sure right, that one of yours is very much just like  mine.
>  
> I don't have any doubt that my crystal is quartz--and now, I think, that  
> it's really a crystal, not something shaped by sawing. 


Pete,

All I can say, is that I've seen a number of vintage collections; and in 
those collections are often a few standard things: a little bag of 
olivine sand from Hawaii; geodes; and a large chunk of quartz that has 
been fashioned in some way.  At some point it seemed like a fad to 
acquire some commercial quartz and add it to the collection; sometimes 
it was natural and sometimes lab-grown.  Also, back in the days when 
lapidary was becoming a big hobby, people were encouraged to practice 
cutting and polishing on quartz.

I'm not sure if there is any way to know exactly what yours was, but 
those are some distinct possibilities.  I have a few much like that one.

Don