Azurite

$900.00

$40.00 shipping
Seller offers an extended return window of up to 30 days
Ships from USA

Crystal ClassicsFeatured

Tucson, Arizona, USA

7,543 for sale·132 sold

Intergrown bladed crystals of deep azure blue Azurite to 7 mm form a roughly 4.5 x 2 cm cluster on top of a mixture of banded dull butterscotch yellow and light caramel brown hard clay, mostly covered by a thin white clay. This well crystallised miniature is from Chessy-les-Mines at Le Bois d'Oingt in the Rh'ne-Alpes Region of France. Copper mining at Chessy-les-Mines goes back to the Middle Ages where a stockwork is exploited. The blue carbonate mineral was initially named Chessylite but was changed to Azurite derived from the Persian name for areas of blue mineralisation. The matrix is rather fascinating because the banded clays already mentioned form complex structures analogous to those seen in agate. A fine miniature Azurite on a highly unusual matrix from the Chessy copper mines.