Hemimorphite (Copper-bearing)

Item Description

A richly colored display specimen of Hemimorphite from Wenshan. These might be the most well-known specimens from this mine. These gorgeous and now famous blue Hemimorphites get their color from the copper content. The piece almost looks as though it should be something organic - similar to a kind of sea life - because one does not often encounter something with this appearance in a mineral. Beautiful spherical formations cover the display side of the underlying matrix. The color and relative translucency of the Hemimorphite allows the piece to almost "glow" with a brightness that you don't often associate with the material.
From the collection of Robert (Bob) Reynolds. Bob was a well-known fossil and mineral expert and former Curator of Earth Sciences at the San Bernardino County Museum in California. The rare phyllomanganate-chromate species Reynoldsite was named in his honor in 2011.