Descloizite - image 1

Descloizite

Unknown Owner
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Berg Aukas is the premier worldwide locality for descloizite, and this specimen amply shows why. Here, you have two generations of crystals - QUITE unusual, and adding a lot of aesthetics to this piece. You have the first generation of very large, sharp, elongated crystals (to over 2.5 cm), and on and around them, a later generation of very sparkly little crystals that lights up the whole piece. Descloizites can rarely be described as "sparkly," so this is quite a desirable piece, despite a couple of contacted edges.

Product details

SpeciesDescloizite
SizeSmall Cabinet
Dimensions6.5 x 5.8 x 4.8 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.