Veszelyite (rare and fine)

Item Description

Veszelyite is a very rare hydrated copper zinc phosphate, and good crystals are only found in few places in the world. Recently there have been some supremely fine quality specimens coming out of China, with crystals as such, lustrous and well-formed as you will see from anywhere. Obviously the most famous specimens of Veszelyite are those from the Black Pine Mine in Montana, but I would say these Chinese examples are just as good in terms of quality and color, though not quite as big as the Philipsburg examples. This attractive miniature specimen features a beautiful predominant cluster of sharp, lustrous, intense blue colored, monoclinic bladed crystals of Veszelyite, along with smaller secondary crystals on a matrix featuring a few associated secondary copper minerals. I can see a tiny bit of soft olive-green colored Kipushite, along with a sky blue colored mineral, possibly Turquoise(?) or Chrysocolla(?), and there are few spots of a greenish mineral that could be Theisite or maybe Zincolibethenite. The largest cluster of Veszelyite measures 2.3 cm across. Nothing has been analyzed on the specimen, and it's hard to confirm species with the naked eye, but you can spend a good amount of time looking at this piece under magnification and see the beautiful associations at the micro level. Very few of these are available, so if you're a fan of secondary ore minerals, rare species or material from China, don't let this one get away.