SOLD
MD-266269
Copper
Champion Mine, Painesdale, Houghton Co., Michigan, USA
Small Cabinet, 8.5 x 4.2 x 3.2 cm
SOLD
A striking and classic copper specimen from the Champion Mine of Michigan's famed Copper Country. Fabulous, dendtritic groupings of spinel-twinned copper crystals spring upward from a single long "backbone" of arching spinel-twinned copper. The large, 4.5 cm, doubly terminated crystal group at the end is particularly striking. The crystals have a nice patina, which in some places is further accented with a red cuprite coating. This form of copper crystals was classified as Type I branching by Dana in 1886. The historic Champion Mine operated from 1902 to 1967 and this is probably an old-time specimen.