Smithsonite (Copper-bearing)

Item Description

Smithsonite is a beloved and sought after secondary zinc mineral. It occurs in a wide range of colors due to the fact that it takes on different chromophores like copper, cobalt, manganese and cadmium. This piece is wonderful showy toenail featuring excellent, bright blue-green colored (copper-bearing) "rice grain"-shaped crystals measuring up to a few mm, sitting on oxidized matrix. If you look closely at the underside of the piece, you'll see some tiny acicular colorless "needles" of Hemimorphite, a sure sign that it's from Santa Eulalia. The color is striking, even for smaller sized crystals and they almost "glow" on their own without any kind of backlighting.