Descloizite (Var: Cuprian Descloizite) - image 1

Descloizite (Var: Cuprian Descloizite)

Unknown Owner
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Berg Aukus is the chief worldwide locality for descloizites and they came from here in all sorts of different forms. This is a specimen of chunky, pillar-like, crystals to one centimeter that have formed on a heavy, iron-rich matrix. The color is slightly green-brown, as they are copper-rich, and I'd swear it feels heftier than normal descloizite but that's probably just because it is SO robust. This is no winner of beauty contest but for what it is, it's a very significant specimen and old material, hard to obtain today.

Product details

SpeciesDescloizite
SizeCabinet
Dimensions12.4 x 8.6 x 4.4 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.