Locality help Crete Greece

I Got this specimen on Crete some 25 years ago. It is Quartz,(Amethyst) but crystals are not hexagonal.
I think is pseudomorphs after Calcite. I figure it is from Crete, but It is also possible it is imported from the mainland,
to be sold to stupid tourists.
I can´t find any locality with that kind of Quartz on Crete, or Greece.
Regards
Torben Kjeldgård



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/2012 02:07PM by Torben Kjeldgård.

It is possible it is from Milos Island, half way between Crete and Athens. There is some amethyst there in the Chondro Vuono area, and there are also semi-triangular quartz crystals there. I never saw a piece quite like that while I was there, but it is possible. It looks like the sort of comb quartz you can get in epithermal veins, and Milos has that sort of thing. I didn't think Crete really had that, but it might.

Definitely this specimen is not from Crete and i could say it is not from Greece.Epithermal amethyst in Greece is found at Sapes area (Thraki), Lesvos,Limnos and Milos islands but is nothing like the specimen you have.There is a very small similarity i could say with amethyst from Lesvos island but if you ask me it's not from there.The best Greek amethyst is of alpine type origin and is found at Kato Nevrokopi basin,Drama (photo crystal is 5 cm tall).
Probably i was imported and sold as Greek amethyst.I have seen it many times done at gift shops.The owners don't do it on purpose,i don't expect a gift shop owner in an island to be able to recognize if a mineral is from a Greek locality.
I don't know from where your specimen is but it is very nice and as i said definitely not from Greece.

To see the matrix or the flip side might help.
Looks a bit like specimens from Bulgarian, Romanian or - oops - Peruan mines. Which is not to say that it is from there.
The shape of the crystals is perfectly normal for quartz, these are not pseudomorphs.

BTW, nice to meet you on Mindat, Tasos Cheers from Gwindel country.

Backside of specimen
nr. 2 photo is a closeup, beside the green stuff it is all quartz, also the squares, no pseudomorph?
Regards
Torben Kjeldgård

Now that I see the back, I agree - it is not from Milos.

Looks like you have a Boulgarian amethyst.Amir is right (Greetings QuartzMaster - I am STILL the King of the Mountain and i still haven't found a strahlstock that doesn't break )
The overall shape and color is very similar to amethyst from Laki mine area and the three side terminations are very common in quartz from Bulgaria.Local diggers call them "Mercedes quartz" as they look like the Mercedes cars sign when viewed from the top.
Over the past decades there were big quantities of Bulgarian minerals imported by a mineral dealer in Athens who supplies most gift shops with specimens.Mayby this is how this specimen end up at Crete.