COBALTOAN Smithsonite - image 1
COBALTOAN Smithsonite - image 2
specimen video

COBALTOAN Smithsonite

Unknown Owner
This super pale pastel pink Cobaltoan Smithsonite is from the all-time classic location of Tsumeb mine in Namibia. As a very displayable miniature specimen it features extremely well-formed rhombohedral crystals reaching an excellent 9 mm on edge. They are translucent and show a lovely pearlescent and bright lustre, with very slight curvature to the main crystal faces. These crystals completely cover the main display face and continue partially around the back of the specimen where the core is rock coated in a fine layer of sulphide. Mounted on an acrylic base for display.

Product details

Species
SmithsoniteAbout Smithsonite →
SizeMiniature
Dimensions4.1 x 4.3 x 2.2 cm
Added on10/24/2024
Locality
Namibia, Oshikoto Region, TsumebRegional guide →

Known provenance

DateCollectorAcquisition price
—Unknown Owner$850.00
—Crystal ClassicsNot disclosed

Learn more

Smithsonite
Mineral guide
Learn about Smithsonite
ZnCO3 with botryoidal and crystalline forms, silky to vitreous luster, pastel hues from cobalt to yellow; localities boost collecting appeal.
Smithsonite
Regional guide
Smithsonite from Tsumeb, Namibia
is one of the defining collector minerals of Tsumeb: not merely because it is common there, but because Tsumeb turns a usually massive or botryoidal zinc carbonate into a locality signature mineral with uncommon crystal variety, depth of color, and association. Tsumeb smithsonite spans the familiar apple-greens and blue-greens of copper-bearing material, soft pink to violet-pink cobaltoan and manganoan-looking rhombs, yellow-brown and chocolate-brown iron-rich crystals, pale grey to white crusts, colorless to translucent rhombs, and rare red-pink material from the deeper oxidized workings. The best specimens combine sharp rhombohedral or scalenohedral crystals with the sculptural mineralogical theater for which Tsumeb is famous: galena-rich sulfide matrix, sugary dolomite, black tennantite and pyrite ore, cerussite, mimetite, malachite, wulfenite, duftite, dioptase, and willemite.