This matrixy-looking cuprite specimen is topped by an aesthetic, pristine, equant, lustrous octahedron of cuprite. The lustre is metallic with a distinct red highlight in strong lighting. The large crystal measures 2.5 cm on a side and is underlain by smaller cuprite crystals that are also free of damage, making for the "matrixy look" of the piece as they provide a pedestal to the big crystal. An excellent minature of sparkling aesthetics, this is complete all around! As a bonus, it has small flecks of microcrystallized native silver, a highly unusual association for cuprite and something rather novel to this mine. This would be, in the context of the finds here of which we know much more this year than when they started trickling out in late 2008, a superior miniature.

With crystals growing out on all sides, much like a stalactite, this complete-all-around floater specimen displays from any angle, and both vertical and horizontal. It has metallic octahedrons of dark red cuprite, to 1 cm in length. The silvery spots you see are just that -native silver, microcrystallized in some cracks and crevasses amongst the cuprite (and more visible in person as it is hard to photo both the lustre and the depth at same time). A highly unusual association!

Perhaps a hundred interconnected, splendent and metallic octahedra of deep red cuprite, to 1.2 cm in length, cover all sides of this specimen. Contact is present where it grew from a larger matrix, and inconsequential, on only one slender side - the piece being complete all around otherwise. Both ends of the piece feature well-terminated crystals. The whole specimen is LOADED with finely crystallized mesh-like dendrites of native silver, crawling out of almost every crevasse (in the photos, these crystal groupings easily look like dirt or attached matrix , but in person they have a distinct silvery gray hue to them and contrast more readily). Overall, large, rich, and a dramatic combination piece

This large piece features a doubly terminated cuprite octahedron, with fine luster and a dark red color atop. This crystal measures 2 cm in length and is of high quality though the other cuprites here have less lustre. Although this matrix specimen is contacted in several areas, it is big and extremely rich, with a heavy blanket of microcrystallized silver overlaying many crevasses. For silver, in fact, it may be the richest piece here and is a significant and weighty specimen

This large and extremely impressive cuprite crystal is a doubly terminated octahedron, with good luster and a slight translucence. It measures 3.5 cm on a side and is colored a deep red with vibrant lustre. Although complete on the display face, there is contact on the back side which makes the piece somewhat shallow in depth although it is otherwise very equant all around. Still, this is a huge, well formed, cuprite crystal. As a bonus, there are rich clusters of crystallized silver, in several places - a highly unusual association. Out of the specimens we picked from, this was one of the very few with larger (to 4mm), macrocrystallized silver in robust crystals (spinel twinned, I think) that stand upright and 3-dimensionally instead of in flatlaying dendritic meshes upon the cuprite.

This is a fairly equant, doubly terminated floater cuprite octahedron, complete all around! An imposing specimen for the collector of single crystals, this piece is remarkably damage free (having only a few small contact to mar symmetry, and those not large). You can see that thin tracework webs of native silver crystals are attached to the surface of the cuprite, providing accent and showing off this rare association.

This imposing small cabinet specimen is our largest cluster, from purchases of material made by picking from 7 different lots that came to market through different dealers over the last 4 major shows. Composed of several dozens of crystals, this specimen is composed of SHARP octahedrons of dark red cuprite, up to 1.2 cm in length. It is very unusual, with so many crystals and such 3-dimensional exposure, that very few show any contact/damage at all (it is essentially pristine, really). This piece looks good vertical or horizontal, and is one of the larger undamaged specimens of this quality which we saw in the various lots at the Denver and Munich shows. The piece is richly associated with feltlike mats of native silver, in small dendritic crystals growing amongst the cuprite crevasses (a highly unusual association, as a bonus!)

This is a solid mass composed of brilliantly metallic, sharp octahedrons of dark cuprite to 1.5 cm in length. The luster on these crystals is particularly vivid and almost glassy. It is very hard to photograph and get both depth and lustre to show accurately! For contrast, the comparatively dull spots you see in the photo are felt mats of native crystallized silver, spread throughout. The piece is complete all around, 360 degrees, and is particlarly impressive in person