large Native Copper sheet with shale

Item Description

Sculptural, large, elongated, feather-like, 2-sided, native copper sheet from the well-known and extinct White Pine Mine of Michigan's famous Copper Country. The bright copper patina is strikingly contrasted by the embedded shale matrix and adds character to this showy large specimen. It looks great from either side. Native copper was deposited in shale beds of the Nonesuch Shale, explaining the sheet-like form. The mine was the only major producer from the Nonesuch Shale in Copper Country. The rest of the mines produced copper and silver from fissures, amygdaloidal basalt and conglomerate. The White Pine was the last major copper mine to close in the historic Copper Country in 1995. Large plates like this are now harder to obtain on the market compared to even a decade ago.