Cuprite with NATIVE Copper

Unknown Owner

Bisbee is one of the most famous mining districts in the entire United States and specimens are now highly prized from these long since closed mines. No mine at Bisbee is more famous than the Copper Queen and this small cabinet Cuprite with Native Copper is a magnificent example from here. Cuprite from this mining district can vary in quality enormously so this specimen, displaying perfectly formed complexly modified cuboctahedral crystals up to about 0.8 cm, is a superb example to have within any Bisbee collection. The crystals have mirror bright faces which provide a dazzling metallic lustre and are of deep cherry-red with a general appearance of almost maroon. Scattered around the matrix of massive Cuprite are rich patches of micro-crystalline Native Copper, sometimes forming as small sheets and solid masses. A superb Bisbee Cuprite.