Cuprian Smithsonite - image 1

Cuprian Smithsonite

Unknown Owner
A bright green sparkling smithsonite sprinkled with fine white cerussite crystals. This is an oddity of a specimen because underneath the smithsonite it is possible to sea a teal color which was likely rosasite which was originally coating azurite based on the shape of the resulting pseudomorph. Such a complex paragenesis is simply par for the course at Tsumeb. Besides the odd formation the color and luster make this a fantastic example of cuprian smithsonite from Tsumeb. Ex. BJ Ritter

Product details

Species
SmithsoniteAbout Smithsonite →
SizeSmall Cabinet
Dimensions7.4 x 3.9 x 2.8 cm
Added on09/13/2025
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.