Serpierite (rare classic material)

Item Description

A beautiful piece of the rare hydrated calcium copper zinc sulfate, Serpierite which was named in 1881 after Giovanni Battista Serpieri who was an Italian mining entrepreneur, and a developer of mines in the Lavrion District, Attiki, Greece. Serpierite is a member of the Devilline Group, and is the Ca-analogue of Aldridgeite. This piece is from the type locality for the species, and featured beautiful deep blue color, acicular, radiating crystals of serpierite which can be seen all over the specimen, but make no mistake, this is more of micro specimen, and is best seen under magnification. Additional species present include colorless gemmy Gypsum crystals, along with minor greenish Conichalcite sitting on a light blue layer of Smithsonite. We have photographed the piece with a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens to better illustrate the quality. A cool piece from the Lavrion Mining area in Greece, one of the oldest known districts of continued mining dating back to the 3rd millennium B.C..