Brandberg Smoky Amethyst Dumbbell Scepter from Namibia

Dimension: 4.6cm x 3cm x 2.2cm
Weight: 33g
Locality: Tafelkop, Goboboseb Mountains, Brandberg Area, Dâures, Erongo Region, Namibia
 
Carefully mined by hand by local miners nearby Goboboseb Mountains in the Brandberg area of Namibia, this Brandberg Dumbbell Scepter is transparent to translucent and imbued with Amethyst, intense smoky colour and loads of remarkable phantoms - flecks of Lepidocrocite and Geothite.
 
Brandberg crystals are found only in this inhospitable and dry section of the Namib Desert, the oldest desert in the world.  Brandberg Region is considered by the locals as a sacred and spiritual site full of history and great significance to the San (or Bushmen) Tribes who sheltered there and rendered over 48,000 paintings and engravings withing its overhanging rocks and caves.  The plains in the Brandberg region are full of mysterious Welwitschia mirabilis of thousand years old, a sacred plant in a sacred place.
 
Coping in a harsh desert environment, local miners must bring supplies, food and water to sustain themselves through weeks of digging, special care must be taken to avoid the venomous scorpions.  As the surface stones are becoming much harder to find, miners are now digging deeper and working harder to unearth more of these magical Brandberg crystals from further down.  And this is why Brandberg crystals are so rare and scarce, only little would be permitted for exports by the Namibia government.
 
The Brandberg is an isolated massif reaching 2606 meters (8550 feet), and rises much higher than any other feature for hundreds of kilometers around.  It is composed of a single mass of granite that rose through the Earth's crust some 120 million years ago.