Smithsonite - image 1

Smithsonite

$2,000.00

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Crystal Classics
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Tucson, Arizona, USA
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Translucent light to mid clove brown Smithsonite crystals thickly cover the top surface of a massive Galena matrix from Tsumeb mine in the Oshikoto Region of Namibia. Smithsonite was ubiquitous throughout the near-vertical dipping Tsumeb ore pipe, with specimens occurring in a plethora of colours. From all the Tsumeb Smithsonite specimens I have seen (a lot, believe me), this is probably one of the more unusual colours. I’m certainly not saying it’s rare, just one of the colours less frequently encountered. Individual crystals are up to 1 cm wide and probably more, although larger sized crystals tend to become intergrown and masked by those adjacent. The Smithsonite crystals are surrounded by a ground mass of micro-botryoidal white and dark green minerals of uncertain composition. A showy and most attractive cabinet specimen of Tsumeb Smithsonite.\n

Product details

Species
SmithsoniteAbout Smithsonite →
SizeCabinet
Dimensions10.4 x 6.6 x 6.2 cm
Listed on12/02/2024
Locality
Namibia, Oshikoto Region, TsumebRegional guide →
SKUCC28247

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Smithsonite
Mineral guide
Learn about Smithsonite
ZnCO3 with botryoidal and crystalline forms, silky to vitreous luster, pastel hues from cobalt to yellow; localities boost collecting appeal.
Smithsonite
Regional guide
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.