Lot: Gorgeous Fibrous Malachite From Congo - 35 Pieces

 

This is a wholesale flat of 35 pieces of stunning, fibrous Malachine from the Congo. This malachite contains millions of malachite needle-like crystals, all packed into dense fan like projections, leaving the combined terminations with a botryoidal appearance. These dark green specimens, have a beautiful silky shimmer throughout and chatoyant banding around the edges. The pieces range from 1-2" wide with most being closer to 2".

At $350 for the lots that comes out to just around $10 per piece.

Malachite is an intense green copper-based mineral that can be found in a wide variety of forms. Malachite can grow in botryoidal masses, stalactitic formations, and reniform formations, typically as a tight cluster of fanning fibrous needles that make up a seemingly solid mass. As layers continue to stack during formation, banded patterns can sometimes begin to take shape, explaining the rings in all shades of green seen on most polished malachite specimens.

Malachite results from the weathering of other copper ores, and is very often found associated with other copper-based minerals such as azurite and chrysocolla. It can be found in copper deposits around the world, but the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the primary source for polished malachite and mineral specimens.

Malachite has been prized since ancient times, first as a utilitarian copper ore, then as an ornamental stone. Due to its value as a decorative stone, it is rarely mined as a copper ore anymore.
SOLD
DETAILS
SPECIES
Malachite
LOCATION
Miringi Mine, Katanga Province, Congo
SIZE
35 pieces, 1-2" wide
CATEGORY
ITEM
#77806