Azurite and Malachite

Unknown Owner

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A dramatic Azurite specimen with robust crystals of an intense blue color, light enough that its vivid hues show through. The crystals are textbook - sharp and clean. The piece is complete all around, and it has extremely high luster. It is a poster child for what makes a Tsumeb Azurite crystal great - size, beauty, luster, and sharpness. There are only a few very minor contacts or dings. The color contrast with the Malachite is wonderful, as the green Malachite had started to replace the surface of the Azurite crystal in some areas near the base, leaving the terminations pristine. This crystal cluster though, retains its perfect, sharp, Azurite tips (and the associated color and luster, unmarked by any encrustation of the Malachite.) This old specimen is from the collection of Dr. Ed David. Fabulous aesthetics - no two ways about it. It was part of the donation of the David collection to the Houston Natural History Museum in 1993, and then deaccessed in a trade to Irv Brown of San Diego in the early 2000s. Since then, I bought and sold it, and recently got it back in a trade exchange. It remains uncommonly good, and stands apart in style from the recent flood of Milpillas azurites.