Smithsonite

$120.00

$40.00 shipping
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Tucson, Arizona, USA

7,543 for sale·132 sold

Although the Peak District mines in Derbyshire are well known for Smithsonite and Hemimorphite the overall quality of material is not exceptional compared with some other parts of the UK. Infact, some of the best Derbyshire Smithsonite came from chance finds in quarries rather than from the historic mines themselves. Royal mine at Matlock is one of the mines where the secondary zinc species Smithsonite and Hemimorphite are known, but rarely seen in anything other than microcrystals. This makes this miniature specimen from Malcolm Southwood's collection (no. MS 1997.099) really special. Within it, an open texture 'boxwork' type structure is displayed with several cavities lined with glistening beige coloured botryoidal Smithsonite. This is quite richly crystallized for Derbyshire Smithsonite and on the reverse the rusty iron-rich matrix is criss-crossed with veinlets of Hemimorphite. A few additional cream coloured bladed crystals on the Smithsonite in cavities might be Cerussite but has not been tested. A very fine Derbyshire Smithsonite.