Name: Cuprite var. Chalcotrichite
Brand: Crystal Classics
Price: 650 USD
Availability: InStock

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Cuprite var. Chalcotrichite

From a Victorian collection, this lovely example of the acicular habit of Cuprite, Chalcotrichite, is from the famous Fowey Consols copper mine at Tywardreath near to St. Austell in Cornwall, England. Fowey Consols became one of the most important copper mines in Cornwall, working east-west trending copper-tin veins and north-south trending bismuth-cobalt-nickel-uranium veins, the latter post dating the former. This fine cabinet specimen with a matrix of milky-Quartz, coated with sooty-black Wad, has a cellular, etched Quartz upper surface in which small clusters of reticulated mats of pinkish red Chalcotrichite nestle. The two main patches measure 5 x 3 mm and 3 x 2 mm and although small, stand out due to their bright lustre and contrasting background colour. Many smaller mats are scattered across the surface of this choice cabinet specimen. Glued to it is an old rectangular paper label numbered 353 and bordered above and below by black lines. This style of label has been attributed (by the late Mick Cooper) to the famous Cornish mineral dealer Richard Talling (1820-1883), but used by him towards the end of his life. Talling was known to specialize in mineral specimens from Fowey Consols and so one can assume that this specimen dates to the 1870s or 1880s.

$650.00