Smithsonite Var. Cuprian

Unknown Owner

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This specimen just SPARKLES with color. It features an intensely green, rolling, botryoidal growth of smithsonite over a matrix of plancheite (you can see the plancheite as the light blue at the bottom periphery). The smithsonite is then itself covered with a secondary layer of very thin, very sparkly, crystallized smithsonite that is probably not even half a millimeter tall, but adds a surface sparkle and reflectivity tha thte botryoidal smithsonite on its own, could not have. Interestingly, and a sure sign of the age of this piece, the smithsonite is also covering very rich masses of deep blue linarite tha tpoke through in a few spots where the smithsonite covering lapses. Although with slight damage at those spots, the deep blue contrast is quite pretty and I can accept the small wear in this context of a really unique and beautiful piece. Such a combination can only be from the upper oxidation levels here, prior to the 1930s in general. It is an old piece, once in the collection of the Harvard Museum. Joe Budd photos