TUC14-84
Smithsonite With Aurichalcite
Kelly Mine, Magdalena District, Socorro Co., New Mexico, USA
Miniature, 3.8 x 3.4 x 2.7 cm
Ex. Dana Otero; Dana Dixon; Dr. Peter Megaw
SOLD
Aesthetic botryoids of lustrous and translucent, sky-blue smithsonite partially cover an earlier generation of botryoidal blue-green aurichalcite. This piece came from the late Tony Otero (mine owner at the time) in 1978, and was later in the collections of Dana Dixon (via dealer Ken Roberts in 1982, whose slide comes with it) and Peter Megaw. This is a superb example in its size range, for both the color saturation and overall aesthetics of the shape of this piece. In fact, for this particular style, it is among the choicest miniatures I have seen. It has the color, luster, translucency, and shape you could wish for. It is competition quality. Most Kelly smithsonite miniatures are just "small." This one, though, is great.