Azurite & Malachite

Unknown Owner

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This is a tall, statuesque, beautiful cluster of three elongated azurite crystals from the most important locality for azurite on earth, possibly only notwithstanding modern specimens from Milpillas in Mexico. In any case, modern material is of a very different style from Mexico, or anywhere. This is a classic Tsumeb style, recognizable by the robust crystals and the accenting duftite/mottramite on the back of the cluster. Small gemmy crystals of smithsonite, 1-3 mm, dot the surface and confirm this is Tsumeb despite the old label from the dealer who sold this to Jack Halpern, in the 1980s. The label attributed this to Morocco, and who knows if it got mixed up with another specimen or was simply an error, but it is Tsumeb as confirmed by associations and the distinct pseudomorph pattern of malachite replacement. This is shown as figure 68 on page #82 of Addicted to Beauty: The Legacy of Jack Halpern (Mineralogical Record, March 2025). However, the photos were labelled by the original labels with the specimens, and this one got by me in editing ; and so it is published as a Moroccan piece there (my fault for not catching that). Laszlo Kupi photo.