Hemimorphite

Unknown Owner

The Sterling Hill and nearby Franklin mines worked a unique metamorphosed zinc orebody hosted in Precambrian marble that produced large quantities of zinc along with an extraordinary variety of mineral species. Hemimorphite formed as a secondary zinc silicate mineral during the alteration of primary zinc ores and typically appears as white to bluish botryoidal crusts or crystal groups. Specimens from Sterling Hill are well known among collectors and are associated with the districts remarkable mineral diversity and long mining history. This example is excellent for the species with lustrous undamaged crystals covering nicely the top of matrix. Fine American classic.