Quartz, Dolomite

Carrara, Massa-Carrara Province, Tuscany, Italy

11x8x5,5 cm. (main Quartz 2×1,1×1 cm.)

Comparable with the best Herkimer diamond Quartzs this world famous italian locality produce one of the best Quartz crystals in term of purity, transparency and perfection. This specimen host a series of extra pure Quartz crystals, different in size, associated with Dolomite and aesthetically placed on crystallized marble absolutely snow white in color. For these reasons this piece can be considered highly representative.

The Carrara marble is a type of marble extracted from the quarries of the Apuan Alps in the Carrara region, universally renowned as one of the most prized marbles due to its extraordinary white color, attributed to its purity reaching 98% calcium carbonate.

Its formation dates back to 190 million years ago when much of the regions now corresponding to northern Tuscany were covered by a vast sea. At the bottom of this sea, a limestone sediment was deposited, originating a carbonate platform. This platform was initially composed of organogenic limestone, derived from the accumulation of shells and skeletal remains of tiny organisms, fused together by a limestone sand and tiny fragments of the shells themselves.

Later, the rock underwent metamorphism due to a series of chemical and physical transformations that occurred underground at high pressures and temperatures. Under these conditions, quartz crystals formed in veins and cavities through the recrystallization of pre-existing minerals or the deposition of dissolved silica in supersaturated fluids.

Carrara is the most important marble district of the Apuan Alps and one of the most known area in the world for producing amazing Quartz crystals.