Cyanotrichite

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A beautiful and classic rare species specimen from the famous Grand View mine in the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. If you have seen the photos you will know that it really is a grand view from there. With no collecting allowed within the National Park, specimens like this one can be dated back to the 1970s or earlier, with the mine having ceased operating in 1916. Although not a successful mine, the workings were known to contain extremely rich secondary mineralization, in particular magnificently rich Cyanotrichite and Carbonatecyanotrichite. These two sky-blue species known for their velvety acicular crystals are difficult to tell apart and the new species Grandviewite has complicated things still more. This very rich large miniature specimen is richly endowed with silky bright sky-blue minute acicular crystals labelled as Cyanotrichite, covering the majority of the matrix with minor showings of green Malachite. It has not been formally analysed but if it is Cyanotrichite then it is very rich indeed, but if it is one of the other two candidates then it is rarer still. Ex Professor Werner Paar Collection.