Smithsonite - image 1

Smithsonite - image 2

specimen video

Smithsonite

Unknown Owner

There appear to be countless habits and colours of Smithsonite from Tsumeb, yet armed with this knowledge, this miniature still seems rather unusual. Honey coloured, stubby, lenticular Smithsonite crystals of up to 12 mm richly cover a Galena matrix with one beautiful Smithsonite perched right on the top of the specimen. It is a fabulous Smithsonite from Tsumeb with such a vibrant and eye-catching colour. Ex John Schneider collection.

Product details

Species

SmithsoniteAbout Smithsonite →

SizeMiniature

Dimensions3.3 x 2.9 x 3.5 cm

Added on10/24/2024

Locality

Namibia, Oshikoto Region, TsumebRegional guide →

Known provenance

Date	Collector	Acquisition price
—	Unknown Owner	$1,500.00
—	Crystal Classics	Not disclosed

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Smithsonite

Learn about Smithsonite

ZnCO3 with botryoidal and crystalline forms, silky to vitreous luster, pastel hues from cobalt to yellow; localities boost collecting appeal.

Smithsonite

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.