Smithsonite

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.

A representative and showy large specimen of Smithsonite from the now defunct Berg Aukas lead-zinc-vanadium mine in Namibia, of a very classic old style: These big, satin lustered, yellow-tan crystals are translucent and range in size from from 1 to nearly 4 cm in length and 2.5 cm in width and are piled up thickly all over the matrix. Crystals have a scalenohedral habit with abundant parallel growth features on the crystal faces and even at the termination as they show multiple, "spikey" peaks. Smithsonite, along with other species, from Berg Aukas are difficult to obtain today. It needs to be said that the periphery is damaged, but these core crystal groups you see are intact, beautiful, and interesting. The specimen could perhaps be trimmed out to a miniature and on another note, the color and translucency is good so I expect you might even cut some smithsonite gemstones from this, with a bit of effort and time.