TUC16B-200
Atacamite
unknown mine, Chuquicamata District, Calama, El Loa Province, Antofagasta Region, Chile
Miniature, 3.7 x 2.4 x 1.5 cm
$2,750.00 Payment Plan Available
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This is a significant display-quality miniature for the species from a major deposit for rare copper minerals. It would date to the late 1800s. Accompanied by a very old label, this fine cluster of roseate, deep emerald green atacamite crystals to 1.5 cm in length, is very aesthetic. It is a competition quality miniature! From the collection of John I. Legro (1842-1923). Mineralogical Record archive link : http://www.mineralogicalrecord.com/labels.asp?colid=870. For pieces like this, I do not use the word "significant" lightly. If you look on MINDAT, and in museums, you will see few large robust crystals of atacamite from this region. However, the deposit is old, and produced for a long time before we kept so many specimens. While we do not know which mine this may have been from, in now-vanished oxide zones of this famous deposit, it is surely a relic of the past. Chuqui was a world class deposit for many species, few of which survived outside of museums today.