I'm messing around with my camera setup in preparation for a photo project and doing some test shots, so I figured I might as well post something kind of interesting.


It isn't unusual to find a pocket of quartz in flint since they're the same chemically, but this little pocket of quartz crystals is special.

First image, a closeup taken at about 3.75x macro. This image is a stacked composite of 30 photos, each taken 100 microns closer than the last, for a total in-focus depth of 3mm. The camera is attached to a high-precision focusing rail.




The next image is the same but labeled so you can see where the next few images (1-5) are located in this larger image. The distance between the X marks is about 9mm.




Location 1: You can see a large yellowish quartz crystal here top right, and another clear one bottom left. A couple more bottom middle. The more I look at these photos, the more crystals I find - pretty much any flat and/or shiny surface is a crystal or a partial one.




Location 2: More crystals than not in this section. Some are clear and some would probably be labeled as smoky quartz if they were larger.




Location 3: Plenty here as well, a large one bottom center and shiny flat surfaces top right and bottom left.




Location 4: Lots of flat surfaces. They all sparkle nicely in the sun even though the pocket is very small.




Location 5: Several nice ones right in the center and some pink and green iridescence on the large one center right.




Ok so what's so special about this tiny pocket of quartz? Here's something I've never seen before or since:




That shiny bling is on the head of a Native American war hatchet. The whole thing is about 4 inches long. You can see in the above photo some material was left on along the top. The extra material gives it a really nice balance and weight for the size. I found it at a dig and took it and some other pieces to an archeologist familiar with the area. He said the objects were 2-3 thousand years old.

Here's the other side. You can see brown streaks across the face that all end along the same line on the left (the bottom streak ends where it's thickest and it looks like there's an angle, right in line with where the other two end). That line is where it was tied to a handle. I'm going to do some highly detailed shots of both sides after I'm done with this other project.




I hope you found that interesting. I've owned this for over 25 years now and I still look at it almost every day.

i would look at it a lot also
fantastic

was that around here
DFW?

Within the triangle formed by Fredericksburg, Kerrville, and Comfort.

That's cool!

si