Manganoan Smithsonite - image 1

Manganoan Smithsonite

Unknown Owner
This choice thumbnail is pink coloured Smithsonite, but not the usual bubblegum pink Cobaltoan Smithsonite, rather a more raspberry pink colour, which is the rarer Manganoan Smithsonite. In some respects it looks very similar to Rhodochrosite, but it is on the classic Tsumeb mine sulphide matrix. The crystals are 9 mm on edge and extremely well-formed, making for a lovely large thumbnail piece.

Product details

Species
SmithsoniteAbout Smithsonite →
SizeMiniature
Dimensions3.0 x 3.2 x 1.7 cm
Added on02/12/2025
Locality
Namibia, Oshikoto Region, TsumebRegional guide →

Known provenance

DateCollectorAcquisition price
03/2025Unknown Owner$350.00
—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.