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Descloizite - image 2

Descloizite

Unknown Owner
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A large, sensationally attractive descloizite specimen from the locality known for having turned out the best ones in the world. This specimen shows you why. The large gunmetal crystals branch and flower upwards in a rich profusion. In fact, the cluster on this specimen grows up and off the small amount of matrix, and is complete all around, like a bush of crystals! Only a few dinged crystals in this whole cluster. Old material from the 1960s-1980s.

Product details

SizeSmall Cabinet
Dimensions9.9 x 5.6 x 4.6 cm
Added on10/23/2024

Known provenance

DateCollectorAcquisition price
08/2024Unknown OwnerNot disclosed
The ArkenstoneNot disclosed

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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.