Malachite (primary malachite) on manganese ore

Item Description

A striking and colorful cabinet-size Malachite from the Star of the Congo Mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is a rather unique specimen from this locality with rich green, rounded groups of tightly divergent, prismatic crystals on a black manganese oxide matrix for startling contrast. The clusters of Malachite have almost rounded surfaces, however, flat, polygonal terminations are evident and also give just a lighter green color to the otherwise rich, dark green of the sides or prism faces. These are primary malachite, sharp crystals not grown by replacement of prior azurite. The display surface of the piece is almost entirely covered with the crystalline, primary Malachite with some smatterings of green speckled in the black matrix. A very showy piece of unusual primary malachite!