Cuprian Smithsonite - image 1
Cuprian Smithsonite - image 2
Cuprian Smithsonite - image 3

Cuprian Smithsonite

Unknown Owner
The most famous locality in the world for smithsonite is certainly the Tsumeb mine. Smithsonite was found in abundance in a variety of habits and colors at the mine while it was producing. One of the most sought after varieties from this mine is cuprian smithsonite. This particular specimen features lime green color zoned rhombs scattered across matrix. Ex. James Ahl Collection.

Product details

Species
SmithsoniteAbout Smithsonite →
SizeMiniature
Dimensions3.7 x 3.6 x 1.6 cm
Added on03/26/2025
Locality
Namibia, Oshikoto Region, TsumebRegional guide →

Known provenance

DateCollectorAcquisition price
09/2025Unknown OwnerNot disclosed
—DanZ RockshopNot disclosed

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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.