Malachite With Calcite

Unknown Owner

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I think this is the most dramatic such examples I have seen from this classic locality, of primary malachite. Here it has formed a stack of sharp 3-dimensional crystals stacked one upon another like a green tidal wave cresting over the atoll of amber-colored calcites. All is complete, even around the edges of the malachite. The crystals have a true and vibrant chatoyance, vibrating and shimmering - not just the normal matte or velvety green color! The horizons on the edges are good, in other words, not just broken off chunks. It is an exceptional piece for the locality, and for primary malachite in general (that is, malachite in large crystals that forms on its own, rather than as a replacement of azurite). I just traded this from the well-known Jack Halpern collection, in San Francisco. Jack is pushing 90 and still going strong, with 2500 specimens to think about and keep him healthy. I am not usually so impressed by malachite in general but this one, overall, for size and aesthetics, I just love! And, frankly I love having something very nice to offer to others from "Gentleman Jack's" wonderful collection, obtained in what I think was a fair exchange. He is such a nice person, and treasures each of his rocks so much, that every parting is a little painful and every piece deaccessed is a barter battle to be remembered. Nevertheless, that is what makes one of his pieces all that much more interesting to see on the market again, after some years or decades in his collection.