Natural History
Natural History
Malachite with Chrysocolla
No reserve
Lot Closed
December 3, 08:01 PM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Malachite with Chrysocolla
Democratic Republic of the Congo
11½ by 7 by 4 inches (29.2 x 17.8 x 10.1 cm). 10½ pounds (4.8 kg).
This undulating malachite specimen ranges in color from light to deep, rich evergreens, and features an internal cave filled with "bubbles" of cotton candy blue chrysocolla.
Malachite is an opaque and banded copper carbonate hydroxide that often forms stalagmitic and/or botryoidal ("bunch of grapes") masses. In this case, chrysocolla—a blue-green mineral with high copper content—has formed as rounded masses in the veins and caverns of the malachite block, resulting in a beautiful sea of densely saturated hues.