Dioptase

Item Description

Dioptase has now come from multiple localities in good quality, and although Tsumeb material is "generally" considered the best, it now has been given a run for the money by fine specimens from a very few modern finds. At first glance, because of the vivid color and the size of the piece, most people would think this to be a Tsumeb Mine dioptase for the strong color saturation and almost gemmy edges... And it DOES look the part, except for the darker matrix association, indicative of Reneville, in the Republic of Congo (not to be confused with the Democratic Republic of Congo!). The crystals are just a bit more translucent in the "skin," and the overall look is not quite "Tsumeb"... but it is close to what those far pricier classics look like. It is in fact from Reneville (plancheite on backside is indicative, for one, as well as the darker matrixy bits on the left), and is probably older than the mid-1980s Tsumeb material of the same species, which fetch such a premium in part just because they are from the more famous mine locale. The crystals are sharp and there are many discrete crystals poking up, to over 1 cm. The color saturation is the best for the locality, a very vibrant hue which has some "life " to it and not so dark as to suck up too much light and color, as is sometimes the case. This was valued at $6500-8500 and comes from the collection of Belgian collector, Dr. Wouter Van Tichelen. He had a particularly strong Africa suite. If this were Tsumeb, you would expect a valuation and price of $15-20k, double the value assigned to similarly looking dioptase from any other locality in Africa, for reasons of sentiment and historical bias. But, when they are just as good, it is hard to explain that premium when looking at them side by side, visually.