Chalcopyrite

$950.00

$40.00 shipping
Seller offers an extended return window of up to 30 days
Ships from USA

"Blister Copper", an unusual botryoidal form of Chalcopyrite is one of the classic old-time minerals associated with copper mining in Cornwall. This cabinet specimen from the famous Cook's Kitchen mine, near Camborne, is a dome-like mass of botryoids of Chalcopyrite showing a lovely iridescent surface patina. There is some surface wear to some of the botryoids, possibly from poor handling, or during collection, but it is a lovely tactile specimen to hold. The individual botryoids range from a few millmetres up to about 8 mm across and on the edges of the specimen where it was originally extracted the internal layered form of the botryoids can be examined. The base of the specimen is massive Chalcopyrite within which are bladed masses of Quartz. There are several small cracks running through the botryoids, but these are common in historic "Blister Copper" specimens. Whether these are some form of historic 'dessication' crack I do not know, but they do not extend into the underlying strong, massive Chalcopyrite, and I have never seen these cause any weakness to a specimen. Overall, a very fine, quite large, and very presentable example of this great Cornish classic, which, without the surface blemishes would be very expensive indeed.