Krohnkite with Natrochalcite

Item Description

The color on these strange minerals from Chile is so shocking, that at first glance many new collectors might assume them to be fake. However, they are simply strange combinations of copper with other elements that somehow accentuate the color beyond any normal copper containing species. It is also rare as heck - most of these are 50 years old or more. Chuquicamata is one of the most strange copper deposits in the world, and produces not only a huge wealth of copper for industry but also a suite of incredibly beautiful rare mineral species of which the most classic is Krohnkite, a sodium copper sulfate (historically and mostly 100 to about 50 years ago) Chuquicamata, or "Chuqui" as it is more familiarly known, is by excavated volume the largest open pit copper mine in the world, located in the north of Chile, at 2850 meters above sea level. Specimens like this probably came out, I have assumed from old collections and labels, between the late 1800s and 1960 with mine managers from USA and Europe, who worked there. This is a rather large, and aesthetic specimen. The krohnkite occurs as vein fillings, and most often looks like this, with constrained crystals completely filling a vein space between layers of the host rock. Small bits of green color are included microcrystals of a related mineral, natrochalcite. Out of nearly 5000 specimens in total numbering, this is early Number 60 in the Halpern collection, acquired by the mid-1960s in the earliest days of his collecting. Few people keep minerals for 60 years, but he certainly did so! Comes with a custom lucite base for safe, upright, ideal display. Valued easily at $4000-5000 based on what is on the market, usually smaller and uglier specimens in low quality. It is simply impossible to find for sale, in any good specimen. They only come out of collections that are recycling, and then go away for another generation or two. Custom base included.