Azurite (donated by the Chinese government)

Item Description

An aesthetic and showy, elongated cluster of intergrown, bladed rosettes of highly lustrous, azure-blue azurite blades from the well-known finds at the Shilu Copper Mine of China. This SUPERB, FLOATER ball has excellent form and is PRISTINE. Scattered malachite is a very nice accent. It is a very high quality piece on its own merits compared to what came out of here at the time, but a bit of fun history goes with it! This is a late 1980s specimen donated by the Peoples Republic of China, of whom a representative was a guest at the Tucson show, to the Mineralogical Record benefit Auction at that time. For the quality, and provenance of a cluster like this, I feel that this is valued at $900-1000 today. Both labels, from the Beijing Museum and the Mineralogical Record, come with it.