Azurite (old) ex Kegel & Smithsonian Coll.

Item Description

Highly lustrous, midnight-blue, tabular azurite crystals, to 2.3 cm, have beautiful electric-blue highlights on this showy old-time Tsumeb azurite from the Upper Oxidized Zone. The jackstraw crystals rest on a matrix crust of granular tennantite with a bit of malachite. The piece has a very fine provenance for Tsumeb. F.W. Kegel was the Tsumeb General Manager from 1922 to 1938 and assembled a collection of nearly 1000 pieces from Namibia. The Smithsonian purchased his collection from his estate in 1948-1950. The piece as traded out of the Smithsonian in 1955. Some brusing is noted, but this remains a seldom available opportunity to obtain a fine old-time Tsumeb azurite with an excellent provenance.