Cuprite

Unknown Owner

Help improve this recordNo owner is registered for this specimen yet. If it's yours or you know more about it, you can add the owner, provenance, publications and other details.

This is a stunning, seemingly carved, cuprite specimen with sharp faces and brilliant luster. When backlit strongly, a gemmy red color permeates the outside few millimeters of the piece. This style (the thin red zone, and the bevelled edges) was rare from the mine's 2009-2010 production, amidst many more commonly found with no hint of red and sharper corners to the octohedra. The piece is complete all around, even crystallized on the bottom except for a very few trivial/minor dings or contact points. This locality has produced what are arguably the world's best cuprite crystals in modern times. The combination here of luster, sharpness, and beauty of the crystals is together more desirable to my eye than all but a very few cuprites known from past major locales. This mine is actually being mined now, as we speak, through its oxidation zone. The mining is actually coming up into the zone from underneath, and when it is done - no more cuprites, no more coppers. So, as a bet, I think this will someday be known as one of the major important specimen localities in Russia for the 2000's, and these cuprites should go up quite a bit in price and desirability over time. Joe Budd photos