large Cuprite on Copper (Bob Reynolds Coll.)

Item Description

A remarkable large two-sided sheet copper specimen richly embedded with sharp cuprite crystals from the well-known Chino (Santa Rita) Mine of New Mexico. The highly lustrous metallic-gray cuprites, to 1.2 cm, glow with blood-red color under bright light. The dense cluster of cuprites on the 'A' side with the largest crystals and the nearby arborescent spinel-twinned copper crystals peppered with tiny cuprites, the striking arborescent cluster of spinel-twinned copper crystals on the left edge, plus the embedded porphyry matrix fragments make for a very noteworthy specimen. The 'B' side is dramatic in its own right with the numerous scattered cuprites, the sharp cuprites embedded on the spinel-twinned copper crystals on the upper left edge, the arborescent copper crystal cluster on the end, PLUS the amazing number of embedded matrix breccia fragments when the copper was deposited along a fracture. This significant large copper and cuprite combination may have been recovered by a shovel operator from the period of 1960-1965 and not marketed until 1988 by the his widow at the Tucson Show. Cuprite and copper combinations are not that common from Chino and this is an exceptional large example from the Bob Reynolds Collection. Bob was a well-known fossil and mineral expert and Curator of the San Bernardino County Museum. He passed away in 2020.