Huge Quartz with Montmorillonite inclusions White Queen Mine Pala California Rare old 1950s Dawsons
Large (huge!) etched QUARTZ crystal included with pink MONTMORILLONITE inclusions from the White Queen Mine, Hiriart Mt, Pala, San Diego Co, California USA. Measures about ______ and weighs _____ lbs. Mined by Norm Dawson in the 1950s, and went from Dawsons to Herb & Mary Walters collection in 1959. Thereafter went to Miners Gems & Minerals in San Diego, whom I purchased it from about 2021-2022 for $750.- for my San Diego Collection. Most of these were sliced and polished to reveal the beautiful insides (see pics on Mindat etc). One of the pics shows it listed on the Miners Gems website and another shows a photo of the Dawsons with the finds from the 50s, and articles about the find. This mine reverted to the Pala Indian Tribe in 1992 or 1993 and will probably never reopen, so this is a defunct/closed locality that will not likely produce anything again. This is an exceptionally large piece. I would suggest leaving the front natural, and cutting the back open and polishing it to show the inclusions.