Cuprite on Copper (rare locality specimen)

Item Description

This is not only one of the few Cuprites we've ever had to offer from this locality, but it's a really well-crystallized example to boot. I will point out that Cuprite is not a rare species, but in my experience it's quite difficult to obtain fine crystallized pieces from the Chuquicamata Mine in Chile. The piece hosts excellent, well-formed, deep red metallic colored, octahedral crystals of Cuprite measuring up to about 5 mm sitting atop "sponge"-like Copper matrix with associated Calcite. When backlit, the Cuprite show good gemminess internally with that deep red hue for which the species is known. We have photographed the piece with a close-up lens to better illustrate the quality. A really good piece for the locality, and certainly not commonly seen on the market anymore.
From the collection of John Dagenais (#JD-768).