Cobaltoan Smithsonite - image 1
Cobaltoan Smithsonite - image 2
specimen video

Cobaltoan Smithsonite

Unknown Owner
The colour of this small miniature Smithsonite from Tsumeb mine is exquisite and is complimented by its sharp rhombic crystal form. Although marked as Cobaltoan Smithsonite I am starting to think that it might actually be the rarer variety Manganoan Smithsonite, due to its tone of pink being slightly more intense and similar to that seen in some Rhodochrosite crystals. Individually, the crystals reach 6.5 mm on edge and form an attractive aggregate on the surface of Quartz-Tennantite-Pyrite host rock. A very pretty Tsumeb Smithsonite.

Product details

Species
SmithsoniteAbout Smithsonite →
SizeMiniature
Dimensions2.6 x 3.1 x 1.5 cm
Added on06/14/2025
Locality
Namibia, Oshikoto Region, TsumebRegional guide →

Known provenance

DateCollectorAcquisition price
06/2025Unknown Owner$400.00
—Crystal ClassicsNot 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.