Dioptase (TYPE LOCALITY)

Item Description

Many people do not realize that, despite the mental association of great dioptase with Tsumeb in Namibia because of a flood of good specimens in the 1970s, the type locality was actually an old Russian mine some 200 years ago! Truly outstanding Russian dioptase specimens are not as common as Tsumeb pieces, to this day. They are also a lot cheaper, to be blunt, for nearly comparable quality in most cases. This one is really about as good as you can get for a Russian dioptase, and would be comparable to most Tsumeb dioptase you would call high-quality (if not quite the best for luster, its close) from that mine as well. When Russian pieces get this good, in fact, I believe they can sometimes be mislabelled as Tsumeb as they turn up, and sold at a premium. A comparable Tsumeb piece would be worth around $5000. This one, however, I value at more like $2000 - they just do not cost as much from Russia, and do not fetch the same glorious-locality premium as any Tsumeb rocks, dioptase or not, seem to on the market. This piece has sharp crystals to 1.3 cm, some of them doubly-terminated. The main part of the display face is free of damage (only some contact and damage on the fatter end, and you should stand it vertically anyhow which puts that at bottom so its irrelevant). The calcite association provides some contrast, and the piece overall has a good 3-dimensionality to it