SM20-415
Conichalcite, Chrysocolla, Smithsonite and Aragonite
Yangwan Copper deposit, Malipo Co., Wenshan, Yunnan, China
Small Cabinet, 9.0 x 7.0 x 3.7 cm
$2,750.00 Payment Plan Available
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This is one very colorful and mineralogically diverse small cabinet mineral specimen from China! What an array of color, too. The visual appeal varies from a preliminary layer of bright, sky-blue Chrysocolla, to a subsequent layer of variegated bright green Conichalcite, upon which pearly, translucent spheres of Smithsonite are perched adroitly along with needles of Aragonite. The Chrysocolla is more continuous along one edge and is also mottled within brick-red to brown-black, iron- and manganese-oxides, and the Conichalcite is variegated from vibrant, almost neon-green along its margins to a deep, translucent green along the top of the piece as numerous, small botryoids (they are smithsonite, not calcite, by acid test - although purchased in China as calcite). The 5 to 8 mm Smithsonite crystals (rounded) are dotted along the deepest green portion of the Conichalcite for ultimate contrast and the numerous, cactus spine-like needles, up to 1 cm, are found scattered along this same Conichalcite ridge for the same effect. A truly colorful and interesting association that is essentially never seen available from China! We believe this to be from Yangwan Copper deposit, Malipo Co., Wenshan, Yunnan, China - but the only location I was able to get on the ground at the time was "Yunnan." From a small find of early 2019.