Dioptase from Silver Queen Mine, Arizona, USA

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An old and quite rare specimen from Arizona, the front of this matrix is covered with glistening green crystals of dioptase. In good condition with only minimal micro-chipping present. The specimen comes with an antique label dates to the early 20th century. I can never remember seeing a dioptase specimen from this locality available for sale. The specimen comes with an antique label as shown at the end of the video.the acquisition date was 1908 from American dealer Lazard Cahn. The Silver Queen mine was located in the 1874 or 1875 and started as a silver mine until the workings got down around the 200' to 300' level and ran into high grade copper minerals, mainly chalcocite, which at the time was not ore. In about 1910, Boyce Thompson, who founded Newmont Mining Corporation took an interest in the property, purchased it, and renamed it the Magma Mine. This dioptase specimen probably came from the collar around #1 shaft. The early specimens from here were commonly mislabelled from Florence because that was the nearest community of any size.