Detailed information
Species
Cobaltoan Calcite, Chrysocolla
Dimensions
58 x 55 x 44
mm
Weight
105 g
Locality
Mashamba West Mine Kolwezi mining district Lualaba, DR Congo
Condition
No recorded repairs
The contrast in colour between turquoise-blue Chrysocolla and cerise-pink Cobaltoan Calcite makes this large miniature-sized specimen from Mashamba West mine in DR Congo seem almost unreal, but it is genuine. The Cobaltoan Calcite forms razor-sharp, shallow-angle rhombic crystals to 1.5 cm across while the Chrysocolla appears as pale blue and turquoise-blue coatings upon the pale grey sandstone matrix and partially impregnated within the rock too. The most intense cerise-pink colour occurs in a more concentrated aggregate of Cobaltoan Calcite crystals where there is some damage to the outlying crystals. The more freestanding individual crystals seen in the cavity on the other edge of the display surface are very slightly paler in their colour but really well-formed with only very minor chipping along some of their sharp edges. The overall lustre of these crystals is good, but not the highest level of glassiness seen in some of the nail-head style Calcite crystals from Mashamba West mine, but this piece is all about colour combinations.