The Crystal Circle
Specimen: Standard Gallery: Standard
Datolite with Quartz
Datolite with Quartz
Dalnegorsk, Primorskij Kraj, Russia
Acanthite
Acanthite
Imiter, Atlas Mountains, Morocco
Wulfenite
Wulfenite
Wulfenite from Villa Ahumada, Sierra de Los Lamentos, Chihuahua, Mexico
Zoisite Var. Tanzanite
Zoisite Var. Tanzanite
Merelani Mine, Lelatema Mountains, Arusha Region, Tanzania
Danburite rough and cut
Danburite rough and cut
San Luis Potosi, Mexico
Adamite on Limonite
Adamite on Limonite
Ojuela Mine, Mapimi, Durango, Mexico
Copper pseudomorphs after Cuprite with Silver

Copper pseudomorphs after Cuprite with Silver

sold
Locality
Rubtsovsky Mine, Altai Krai, Siberia, Russia
Minerals
Copper, Cuprite, Silver
Dimensions
2.2 x 1.5 x 1.5 cm
Size class
Thumbnail
SID
COPPER3

The cuprites from the Rubtsovsky Mine in Russia are widely considered the best ever found. The Rubtsovsky Mine is an operating copper mine, and the oxidation zone has produced Cuprites, Azurites, native copper, silver, and iodine minerals like Miersite, and Marshite. I have been following the production for the last two years, to better understand how these are unique and what pieces stand out from "the crowd." About 95+% of the production have damage of some kind to a corner or edge. This is largely due to the miners who when extracting crystals from the kaolin clay zone (which protects the Cuprites), they drop them into their pockets, and they get dinged. 

This piece consists of four interlocked complete pseudomorphs of native Copper after Cuprite. There are two primary crystals, of about the same size that are connected. The slightly larger crystal has two smaller one embedded within it. On the backside of this crystal is a patch of native silver. This is a unique specimen, as copper pseudomorphs occur less than about 1% of the time, and silver on Cuprites only occurs at the Rubtsovsky Mine. No damage.

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