Cuprite

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Mineral guide

Learn about Cuprite

ruby-red copper oxide crystals with brilliant luster, from cubes to octahedra, prized for color, rarity, and historic collecting appeal.

Regional guide

Cuprite from Milpillas Mine, Mexico

from the Milpillas Mine is a modern Mexican classic: not abundant like the mine’s famous azurite and malachite, but instantly recognizable when good. The best pieces carry sharp, lustrous, deep red to silvery-red Cu2O crystals on pale dickite, rock, massive cuprite, or copper-rich matrix. Under ordinary light many crystals look metallic, even gunmetal or silvered; under strong light or backlighting the better ones reveal the blood-red, cherry-red translucency that makes Milpillas cuprite so compelling.