Azurite, Malachite

Item Description

This is a thick, botryoidal crust composed of very attractive, spherical aggregates of sparkling, slightly translucent, vibrant blue Azurite. The largest sphere measures 2 cm across and is interconnected with other Azurite botryoids as the others are on the piece. The sparkly, sugary look, and the ball-shaped clusters of glowing blue Azurite are highly unusual and make this stand out dramatically from Azurites from other locales. There are several balls of bright green Malachite from 3 to 7 mm scattered about the piece as well for nice color contrast. Some orange-brown Goethite as a staining and as matrix is present for additional contrast. The piece is in excellent condition with only minor bruising very locally. The bright, rich blue color is hard to convey, but is somewhat lighter than "usual" for Azurite. It's a great specimen from a small find at the Christiana Mine in early 2012.