Malachite in Dolomite cast

Item Description

This item is part of a special benefit auction for the Rice Museum of Rocks & Minerals (ricenorthwestmuseum.org). Items are either deaccessions from the museum's collection or were donated by generous supporters listed below.

Auction open April 1, 2021 through April 17, 2021.

Billing for this auction will occur on Monday, April 19, for payment using PayPal or credit card. Shipping will be billed at cost, or please contact brandy@mineralauctions.com if you'd like to plan on picking up items at future shows or during a stop through Dallas.

This attractive and interesting dual-colored piece from Tsumeb features a cream colored, boxwork cast of Dolomite with a large vug containing starkly contrasting botryoids of bright green Malachite. The cast consists of thin plates (septae) of crystalline Dolomite composed of thin, interlocking, slightly curved, roughly rhombohedral crystals resulting in a glistening, geometric boxwork texture with a central vug containing a mounded surface of Malachite botryoids as well as isolated spheres of Malachite. One rounded interior surface of Dolomite is embellished with interconnected, velvety green, 3 to 5 mm Malachite botryoids with some of the pink Dolomite peaking through and another rounded Dolomite clearly composed of lustrous, rhombs is beset with starkly contrasting, isolated spheres of green Malachite as is one of the exterior walls of the vug. A uniquely aesthetic Tsumeb piece, immediately recognizable as Tsumeb but that does not make it any more common. It is really attractive, and complete all around.