Libethenite - image 1

Libethenite

Unknown Owner
Libethenite, a relatively rare copper phosphate hydroxide, forms dark green glassy patches with occasional euhedral crystals in a vuggy, iron rich Quartz gossan veinstone. This miniature, from Phoenix United mine at Minions in the Liskeard District of Cornwall, has several areas rich in Libethenite, yet let me emphasise most of these are massive, dark bottle green glassy patches and not particularly attractive, if your emphasis is on aesthetics. Better you know this up front. However, where crystals have developed, they are reasonably large for the locality. One particular crystal forms a well terminated bipyramid prism of intensely dark bottle green, measuring 6 mm wide, although this is partly hidden, nestling in a shallow vug.\n

Product details

Species
LibetheniteAbout Libethenite →
SizeSmall Cabinet
Dimensions6.8 x 4.3 x 2.5 cm
Added on10/24/2024
Locality
UK, England, Phoenix United MineRegional guide →

Known provenance

DateCollectorAcquisition price
06/2025Unknown Owner$250.00
—Crystal ClassicsNot disclosed

Learn more

Mineral guide
Learn about Libethenite
striking bottle-green copper phosphate with sharp, glassy crystals; prized for rarity and top localities like Tsumeb and Shinkolobwe.
Libethenite
Regional guide
Libethenite from Phoenix United Mine, Cornwall, UK
from Phoenix United Mine is one of the classic Cornish expressions of the species: dark bottle-green copper phosphate, most often seen as glassy patches and small vug-linings in iron-rich quartz gossan, but capable—at its best—of forming sharp, pseudo-octahedral to bipyramidal crystals of exceptional size for Britain. The locality’s appeal is not simply that libethenite occurs there; it is that Phoenix United and its Wheal Phoenix workings gave collectors old-time Cornish examples with a distinctive nineteenth-century pedigree, the kind of material that turns up with hand-written dealer labels, museum provenance, and the terse collector shorthand of an earlier mineral trade.