Detailed information
Species
Olivenite, Quartz
Dimensions
70 x 60 x 40
mm
Locality
Wheal Gorland, St. Day Gwennap, Cornwall England
Condition
No recorded repairs
A superb cabinet specimen of Olivenite from the copper arsenate mecca of Wheal Gorland, St. Day, Cornwall. Olivenite crystals of a lustrous and rich dark olive green cover a large area of the specimen, with crystals averaging 2 mm. The Olivenite crystals cement a Quartz breccia with inter-dispersed yellow-green, probable Chenevixite, on a milky Quartz vein-stone. An extremely old looking hand written label accompanies the specimen, inscribed 'Wheal Gorland (dumps by Bawden's Shaft) Gwennap, Cornwall'. If this was typical of the quality of material available on the dumps back then, I certainly wish I'd been around! A fabulous example of the copper arsenate Olivenite from Wheal Gorland, that most famous of Cornish mines.