Quartz with dark green epidote — Hongquizhen, Sichuan • 147 g

Description

This hand-sized block is pale translucent to milky quartz densely intergrown with abundant dark green epidote. The piece is blocky with irregular edges and several crystal faces show a glassy, sparkly lustre; colours range from cream, white and pale yellow through to dark green in the granular to bladed epidote. Measuring 7 × 5 × 2 cm and weighing 147 g, the specimen preserves the tactile contrast between the smoother, glassy quartz surfaces and the granular-to-bladed epidote aggregates across its faces. There is no claim of other specific inclusions or treatments; the material Quartz and epidote and the provenance given as Hongquizhen Quarry, Sichuan Province. Quartz is silicon dioxide (SiO2) and commonly forms hexagonal prisms with characteristic glassy surfaces, while epidote is a calcium–aluminium iron silicate typically present as prismatic or bladed green crystals. Both minerals occur together in many hydrothermal and metamorphic settings, which helps explain their intimate intergrowth here.