Descloizite - image 1
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Descloizite

Unknown Owner
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Dark, shiny cluster of descloizite crystals to over 2cm on a small amount of matrix. All of the crystals are well terminated, have deep color, and have no apparent damage, and are thus of exceptional quality. Great example of one of the less common Tsumeb minerals available? NO! This is why I show the label. THEY ARE NOT FROM TSUMEB but from Berg Aukas. Often, the miners there sold to dealers from Tsumeb and before you know it, everybody has a "tsumeb" descloizite. The errors persist commonly on the market to this day 20-30 years or more after the fact. Former Edna Doughty collection with label.

Product details

SpeciesDescloizite
SizeSmall Cabinet
Dimensions6.0 x 5.0 x 3.6 cm
Added on10/23/2024
LocalityNamibia, Otjozondjupa Region, Berg Aukas Mine

Known provenance

DateCollectorAcquisition price
08/2024Unknown OwnerNot disclosed
—The ArkenstoneNot disclosed

Learn more

Descloizite
Mineral guide
Learn about Descloizite
lead-zinc vanadate with lustrous rosettes, black-to-brown tones, and warm translucence; top localities Otavi, Namibia and Ojuela, Mexico.
Descloizite
Regional guide
Descloizite from Berg Aukas Mine, Namibia
Berg Aukas descloizite is one of the great “species-defining” classics: the locality by which serious collectors judge descloizite. The best pieces have a sculptural, almost architectural presence—dark brown to nearly black spear-point crystals, glossy blades, jackstraw bundles, radiating rosettes, and sharply terminated clusters that can look metallic under a show lamp yet glow warm reddish brown along thinner edges. Many specimens sit in pleasing contrast on pale calcite, dolomite, smithsonite, or willemite-bearing matrix, giving the dark vanadate crystals the visual authority of black lacquer against limestone.