Descloizite (Var: Cuprian Descloizite), Descloizite - image 1
Descloizite (Var: Cuprian Descloizite), Descloizite - image 2

Descloizite (Var: Cuprian Descloizite), Descloizite

Unknown Owner
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Berg Aukas, Namibia has produced the world's finest descloizite specimens and this is an outstanding, mounded, two-sided, cabinet specimen. The front of this fine piece is covered with fat, black descloizite spear-points, which are generally considered to be cuprian-rich. The back of the piece reveals that the fat, cuprian-rich crystals were deposited on an earlier generation of normal, thin-bladed descloizite spear-points. Much of the front, one side and back are covered with a druse of brick-red hematite or sparkly, hematite-tinted, calcite micro-rhombs. The largest spear-point is 2.5 cm. This fine piece is a very highly representative example of the species and famous locality, which closed in 1978.

Product details

SpeciesDescloizite
SizeCabinet
Dimensions10.3 x 7.5 x 6.0 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.