Azurite

Unknown Owner

Rich royal blue, thick tabular to bladed crystals of Azurite feature on this fine specimen from the Proprietary mine at Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. The mine was incorporated in 1885 to develop the Broken Hill ore bodies and later became known as BHP. It is all too easy to take Azurite for granted throughout the Broken Hill mines, but well crystallised specimen are far rarer than many a collector may think. The Azurite displays well developed crystal faces of high lustre and with electric blue internal flashes. The crystals individually measure to over 2.5 cm and some are doubly terminated. The specimen has whitish areas of granular Cerussite on the reverse. This is particularly fine crystallised Azurite from the Proprietary mine.