Recently sold for an impressive $5000 by rock dealer (and obvious Tolkein fan) Rob Levinsky of The Arkenstone, this extraordinarily textured mineral known as Chalcedony on Chrysocolla stalactites (pocket) was originally discovered in Arizona around fifty years ago. Lavinsky sez:
Frank Valenzuela obtained this specimen from a fellow miner at the Inspiration, where he was a miner and then a shaft supervisor in the 1950s-1960s. It was collected, he recalls, in the early 1960s. It is a classic example of the quartz-covered chrysocolla stalactites from that time, but unusual in that it was preserved as a whole pocket. The piece glows when backlit, as the top surface is partially translucent and there is a small hole in back of the vug, to let light into the pocket for backlighting. The largest stalactites are 2 cm. The pocket opening is 2 inches across.