About the product:

🪨 Mineral type: Negative quartz (Alpha quartz – a crystal variety with inverted growth patterns)

🌍 ⛏️ Origin: France - Haute-Savoie (74)

📐 Dimensions: 160 millimeters long x 67 wide x 54

⚖️ Weight : 161.1 grams

✨ Finish: Natural

🔬 Treatment: None

📜 Certificate: Zen curiosity

🎁 Ideal as a gift or a treat for yourself!

🏔️ Short story

Alpine negative quartz is a fascinating geological curiosity. During the formation of the Alps, some quartz crystals underwent partial dissolution, leaving perfect geometric imprints — the famous “negative forms” — in a new layer of quartz.

These specimens, typical of the Chamonix, Maurienne and Oisans valleys, have been highly prized by crystal hunters and collectors since the 19th century. They symbolize the memory of geological time, the transformation and resilience of matter over millennia.

📋 Mineralogical Fact Sheet

Mineral name

Negative quartz (alpha quartz variety – SiO₂)

Mineralogical group

Silicates – a subgroup of tectosilicates

Chemical formula

SiO₂ (silicon dioxide)

Crystalline system

Trigonal (α-quartz structure)

Crystal clear

Trapezoidal – 32

Habitus

Prismatic crystals with pyramidal terminations, here represented as inverted impressions in the mass

Cleavage

No clean cleavage – typical conchoidal fracture

Hardness (Mohs scale)

7

Density

Approximately 2.65

Transparency

Translucent to semi-translucent

Color

Milky white to translucent white

Brilliance

Matte to silky, with translucent areas

Structure

Negative crystallization: hollow imprints (inverted crystal shapes within the mass)

Matrix / Support

Presented on a varnished wooden base with a label reading "NEGATIVE QUARTZ"

Origin

Alpine massif – French Alps (Savoie / Haute-Savoie)

Collection period

Probably 1970s–1990s (based on the style of the base and typography)

State

Excellent – ​​no visible breakage, perfect preservation

HS Code (HS Code)

7103.10 – Precious or semi-precious stones, unworked or simply sawn (Quartz)

Use	Mineralogical collection, natural decoration, lithotherapy