Smithsonite - image 1
Smithsonite - image 2
specimen video

Smithsonite

$2,200.00

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Crystal Classics
Crystal ClassicsFeatured
Tucson, Arizona, USA
7,543 for sale·132 sold
This is a quite distinctive miniature Smithsonite. It is from Tsumeb mine in Namibia, a locality renowned for superb crystallized Smithsonite specimens in a variety of colours and crystal forms. However, this piece is very different to most which one sees from Tsumeb. It has a rich burnt orange colour that is unusual, but not super rare from Tsumeb, but it is its crystal form that is the main attraction here. The Smithsonite crystals, which at up to 2 cm in length are large, are highly elongated rhombic crystals with classic trigonal terminations. The crystals have intricate stepped surfaces where it appears that the rhombic crystals have developed in sequence following the length of the crystal, and allowing each one to extend with the addition of each new crystal. The main cluster of crystals form a divergent spray in the centre of the specimen, making for a nicely balanced display. The terminated crystals are free from damage - the only damage being where one of the larger crystals is completely missing on one edge, sheered off along a cleavage surface. A really unusual Tsumeb mine Smithsonite for the connoisseur.

Product details

Species
SmithsoniteAbout Smithsonite →
SizeSmall Cabinet
Dimensions5.5 x 4.0 x 3.3 cm
Listed on04/12/2025
Locality
Namibia, Oshikoto Region, TsumebRegional guide →
SKUCC51018

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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.