CUPRIAN Smithsonite - image 1
CUPRIAN Smithsonite - image 2
specimen video

CUPRIAN Smithsonite

Unknown Owner
A fine miniature of the very desirable pale lime green to peppermint green copper-rich variety of Smithsonite famous from Tsumeb mine in Namibia. Richly crystallized as a sugary, finely crystallized crust upon iron-rich matrix, it is its colour which really stands out. On a world scale, green coloured Cuprian Smithsonite is rare making the material from Tsumeb highly sought after. Mounted on an acrylic base for display, this specimen really stands out. Small, but very beautiful.

Product details

Species
SmithsoniteAbout Smithsonite →
SizeMiniature
Dimensions3.5 x 4.0 x 2.5 cm
Added on02/06/2025
Locality
Namibia, Oshikoto Region, TsumebRegional guide →

Known provenance

DateCollectorAcquisition price
—Unknown Owner$450.00
—Crystal ClassicsNot disclosed

Learn more

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.