Smithsonite and Hydrocerussite (unusual!)

Item Description

Botryoidal (rounded) Smithsonite comprises a distinct niche among Tsumeb's highly-prized, and often exceptional, Smithsonite varietals- and the number of aesthetic pieces we have seen are small. This small-cabinet piece is essentially one, extremely large botryoid of translucent carving grade smithsonite. Vitreous where contacted and silky with a million little micro-sparkles along the surface, the Smithsonite is very translucent. Adequate backlighting really allows you to appreciate the quality of the Smithsonite, as well as its rich, uncommon, greenish-yellow color. Along the surface are numbers smaller botryoids that are clustered in groups, and their geometry creates what is to me an almost 'planetary' look and feel. This is already highly unusual and in fact the color is more like something you might expect from Berg Aukas - although not in such a thick and translucent crystalline hemisphere. So it is already a strange piece and yet there is more... In turn, these smaller balls, up to 1.5 cm, are decorated with and intergrown with off-white Hydrocerussite, which makes this is an even more unusual, interesting combination. The hydrocerussite also grows into the bottom of the large smithsonite cluster, and is in fact intergrown. It is twinned and reticulated - proof that this IS indeed from Tsumeb, when the smithsonite alone might give you a puzzle on the matter! The Smithsonite has a muted, yellowish-green fluorescence, and the Hydrocerussite has a fluorescence that varies from whitish to yellowish. Impressive in its own right for Tsumeb as a smithsonite, this specimen has good size and a subtly-sparkling presence to it that makes it a competitive smithsonite specimen from any locality, and perhaps more importantly an INTERESTING one.