Dioptase, Shattuckite

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A DRAMATIC, OLD-TIME combination specimen from the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences. Gemmy and lustrous, dark emerald-green dioptase crystals to 1.2 cm aesthetically line multiple vugs in a very 3-dimensional gossan matrix which is nearly covered by sky-blue shattuckite. Shattuckite is a RARE copper silicate and this is REALLY a desirable dioptase/shattuckite combo. This piece was collected by Samuel Gordon on the Fourth Vaux-Academy Mineralogical Expedition in 1929-1930 and comes with the labels! Definitely a HISTORIC specimen from a famous, now abandoned, but less well-known mine in Zaire - the Tantara Mine.