Quartz (Japan-law twin and scepter) - King County, Washington, USA
With the variety of habits and styles---especially twins and scepters---and the number of localities, the North Cascades of Washington State are a quartz collector's paradise. There are literally hundreds of quartz crystal localities and one of the most famous, and dangerous, is known as Denny Mountain. Published accounts indicate that more than a few collectors have lost their lives dealing with the dangerous approach, working conditions and weather. The best known specimens from this locality are the so-called "raspberry" or "strawberry" amethyst scepters. The inclusions that give the appearance of seeds in a strawberry are small platelets and needles of hematite that crystallized on the surface of the still growing quartz crystal, which eventually completely enveloped them.
Although quartz and pyrite are among the most commonly available collector minerals, the Spruce claim, another of King County’s most famous localities, produces some of the largest and finest combinations of these two species. Sceptered---some with amethystine tips---are also well known from this locality.
Most of the quartz localities in this region are found in breccia pipes hosted by granitic rocks. Brecciated rock has open spaces where crystals can grow. It is very hard work but collectors dig through the rock, usually with only hand tools, to find pockets of quartz crystals. In many localities, the quartz is accompanied by other minerals such as pyrite, barite, calcite, tourmaline or base metal sulfides.
