Zapatalite (extremely rare)

Item Description

The Miguel Vacas Mine in Portugal has produced some attractive secondary ore minerals (especially copper-bearing species) over the years. This is a very hard to find specimen of Zapatalite, a rare hydrated copper aluminum phosphate mineral, named after the Mexican general, Emiliano Zapata. It has only been reported from SEVEN localities in the world according to mindat.org. Without question, the best and most well-known examples are those from the Miguel Vacas Mine. This specimen hosts a thin layer of light turquoise blue colored Zapatalite on oxidized matrix. Looking closely, there appears to be another copper mineral with a botryoidal form and more of green hue (possibly Malachite?). If you collect copper species or secondary ore minerals, this is a cool esoteric specimen to add to your collection, as they are rarely available on the market from this old copper mine that dates back to 1925. From the collection of Vasco Trancoso, a medical doctor and prominent mineral collector from near Lisbon, Portugal (https://www.mindat.org/user-11954.html). He assembled his mineral collection over the course of 60 years, and built a fine worldwide display collection that we recently purchased. This piece is pictured on mindat.org at https://www.mindat.org/photo-1207711.html