Malachite stalacite (rare locale!)

Item Description

Talk about strange surprises! We do not expect much in copper minerals from Peru, and seldom see even a crust of azurite or malachite, from here. Occasionally, we see a native copper. They are both rare in nature, and also have trouble surviving mining and miners at locations which need to process the ore to survive and prosper economically...a tragedy for mineral collectors. However, this is from a small pocket of stalactite malachites that was found in a small, artisanal mine and, unlike most such finds, was carefully collected and preserved for its unusual beauty. The entire lot made it to Lima, to the hands of a dealer friend of ours, and sold to us in about 2018. This is one of the finest couple of miniatures in that lot. There were a few dozen thumbnails and only a few miniatures. We have seen NOTHING like this, since. We do not expect to see more. It seems like the velvety malachite is an overgrowth or replacement of earlier chrysocolla (there are traces on the backside). This is a very elegant, very rare, copper species miniature that frankly is difficult to value, having no comparables.