Cadmium Smithsonite on Galena - image 1

Cadmium Smithsonite on Galena

$3,500.00

VisaMastercardAmerican ExpressPayPalPayPal Pay In 4Discover·
  • $40.00 shipping
  • Seller offers an extended return window of up to 30 days
  • USAShips from USA

Crystal Classics
Crystal ClassicsFeatured
Tucson, Arizona, USA
7,543 for sale·132 sold
The orange, cadmium-bearing variety of Smithsonite is rarely seen as well-defined crystals anywhere in the world, except for Tsumeb mine, and specimens from Tsumeb are now very hard to come by except when older collections are recycled. Even then, larger, high-class specimens like this are extremely rare. Colourful and showy, and with the largest crystal reaching 1.7 cm cm on edge, this is exceptional. In common with most cadmium Smithsonite from Tsumeb mine, the initial Smithsonite is white to colourless indicating a relatively pure zinc carbonate with the orange colour developing later towards the edges of the crystals and becoming more intense in the larger crystals. This transition has produced a wonderful colour zonation within the crystals on this specimen, adding to its class. Furthermore, light transmits through the orange tips to produce a wonderful glow. Additionally, smaller twinned Smithsonite crystals can be seen growing out from the largest Smithsonite crystal. At small cabinet specimen in size, this specimen displays superbly well. A superb, rare yellow-orange Tsumeb Smithsonite from the generations-old Weyand collection.

Product details

Species
SmithsoniteAbout Smithsonite →
SizeSmall Cabinet
Dimensions8.8 x 4.5 x 4.0 cm
Listed on04/11/2026
Locality
Namibia, Oshikoto Region, TsumebRegional guide →
SKUCC47938

Learn more

Smithsonite
Mineral guide
Learn about Smithsonite
ZnCO3 with botryoidal and crystalline forms, silky to vitreous luster, pastel hues from cobalt to yellow; localities boost collecting appeal.
Smithsonite
Regional guide
Smithsonite from Tsumeb, Namibia
is one of the defining collector minerals of Tsumeb: not merely because it is common there, but because Tsumeb turns a usually massive or botryoidal zinc carbonate into a locality signature mineral with uncommon crystal variety, depth of color, and association. Tsumeb smithsonite spans the familiar apple-greens and blue-greens of copper-bearing material, soft pink to violet-pink cobaltoan and manganoan-looking rhombs, yellow-brown and chocolate-brown iron-rich crystals, pale grey to white crusts, colorless to translucent rhombs, and rare red-pink material from the deeper oxidized workings. The best specimens combine sharp rhombohedral or scalenohedral crystals with the sculptural mineralogical theater for which Tsumeb is famous: galena-rich sulfide matrix, sugary dolomite, black tennantite and pyrite ore, cerussite, mimetite, malachite, wulfenite, duftite, dioptase, and willemite.