Posted on

Beautiful Green Dioptase / Schöne grüne Dioptase / 美しい緑の翠銅鉱

Dioptase Locality: Tsumeb Mine (Tsumcorp Mine), Tsumeb, Otjikoto (Oshikoto) Region, Namibia. Pristine and perfect all around. Erik Louw was a miner on the dioptase stope who traded extensively and accumulated one of the finest Tsumeb miniatures collections, purchased in entirety by the Sussmans in the late 1990's. 4 x 4 x 1 cm

Beautiful Green Dioptase

Dioptase is an unusual mineral that is highly desired for its intense Emerald green color.  It is a copper cyclosilicate mineral that varies from transparent to translucent.  Very popular with mineral collectors he can be cut into small gems are also ground up and used as a pigment for painting.  Dioptase typically forms as a secondary mineral and copper deposits created through the weathering and oxidation of the primary minerals in either limestone or calcite formations.  It may be associated with other cupric minerals like malachite, chryscolla, and azurite.  It is a trigonal mineral which forms six-sided crystals that termine in rhombohedra.

Dioptase is uncommon and usually found in desert regions . Within the United States, deposits are mostly restricted to the state of Arizona. Globally Kazakhstan and in particular the Tsumeb mine in Namibia produce some of the best examples of this mineral.  Dioptase is also found in Congo and then Argentina in South America.  Better examples of this mineral can be quite costly.

Dioptase with calcite and minrecordite - Tsumeb Mine (Tsumcorp Mine), Tsumeb, Otjikoto (Oshikoto) Region, Namibia (5.5x4cm)
Dioptase with calcite and minrecordite – Tsumeb Mine (Tsumcorp Mine), Tsumeb, Otjikoto (Oshikoto) Region, Namibia (5.5x4cm)Dioptase mit Calcit und Minrecordit – Tsumeb-Mine (Tsumcorp-Mine), Tsumeb, Region Otjikoto (Oshikoto), Namibia (5,5 x 4 cm)方解石とミンレコーダイトを含む翠銅鉱-ツメブ鉱山(ツメブ鉱山)、ツメブ、オシコト(オシコト)地域、ナミビア(5.5x4cm)By Didier Descouens – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8876953

In modern times dioptase was discovered at the end of the 18th century in the Central Asian steppes in Kazakhstan. The Russian mineralogist’s who discovered it confused it four form of emerald.  Despite having a similar color to emeralds dioptase actually has different optical and physical properties which differ enough the gemologists can easily distinguish one from the other.  Dioptase has been discovered to have been used to decorate plaster statues dating back to before 7000 BC.

Dioptase dust is toxic due to its copper content an accidental ingestion can lead to serious problems. Jewelers and fasteners should wear protective masks and ideally use a glove box to avoid inhaling or ingesting particles during the cutting polishing and cleaning processes. Finish pieces however typically pose no hazard.  Because of the cleavage pattern impossible fractures dioptase is should usually be cleaned with a mild detergent warm water and a soft brush.  Dioptase in general tends to be very fragile and specimens should be handled with great care.

Dioptase, Baryte, Plancheite Locality: Kaokoveld Plateau, Kunene Region, Namibia Size: 3.8 x 3.1 x 1.4 cm. A little orange barite perched atop! The central dioptase is 1.3 cm and pristine. The one on the edge is larger, but incomplete at its edge.
Dioptase, Baryte, Plancheite Locality: Kaokoveld Plateau, Kunene Region, Namibia Size: 3.8 x 3.1 x 1.4 cm. A little orange barite perched atop! The central dioptase is 1.3 cm and pristine. The one on the edge is larger, but incomplete at its edge.Dioptase, Baryt, Plancheite Lokalität: Kaokoveld-Plateau, Kunene-Region, Namibia Größe: 3,8 x 3,1 x 1,4 cm. Ein kleiner orangefarbener Baryt thront oben drauf! Die zentrale Dioptase ist 1,3 cm groß und makellos. Der am Rand ist größer, aber am Rand unvollständig.翠銅鉱、重晶石、プランヘ石産地:ナミビア、クネネ地方、カオコベルド高原サイズ:3.8 x 3.1 x1.4cm。 小さなオレンジ色の重晶石が上に腰掛けています! 中央の翠銅鉱は1.3cmで手付かずの状態です。 端にあるものは大きいですが、端が不完全です。By Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10175913

Learn more about the physical characteristics and crystallography of dioptase at mindat.

We carry a selection of fine specimens of Tsumeb dioptase for sale. Click hear for more information.

Auf Deutsch – Schöne grüne Dioptase

Dioptase ist ein ungewöhnliches Mineral, das wegen seiner intensiven smaragdgrünen Farbe sehr begehrt ist. Es ist ein Kupfercyclosilikatmineral, das von transparent bis durchscheinend variiert. Sehr beliebt bei Mineraliensammlern kann er in kleine Edelsteine ​​geschnitten werden, die ebenfalls gemahlen und als Pigment zum Malen verwendet werden. Dioptase bildet sich typischerweise als sekundäres Mineral und Kupferablagerungen, die durch Verwitterung und Oxidation der primären Mineralien in Kalkstein- oder Calcitformationen entstehen. Es kann mit anderen Kupfermineralien wie Malachit, Chrysokoll und Azurit assoziiert sein. Es ist ein trigonales Mineral, das sechsseitige Kristalle bildet, die in Rhomboedern enden.

Dioptase ist ungewöhnlich und kommt normalerweise in Wüstenregionen vor. In den Vereinigten Staaten sind die Einlagen meist auf den Bundesstaat Arizona beschränkt. Weltweit produzieren Kasachstan und insbesondere die Tsumeb-Mine in Namibia einige der besten Beispiele für dieses Mineral. Dioptase kommt auch im Kongo und dann in Argentinien in Südamerika vor. Bessere Beispiele für dieses Mineral können sehr kostspielig sein.

In der Neuzeit wurde Dioptase Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts in den zentralasiatischen Steppen in Kasachstan entdeckt. Die russischen Mineralogisten, die es entdeckten, verwirrten es mit vier Formen von Smaragd. Obwohl Dioptase eine ähnliche Farbe wie Smaragde aufweist, weist sie tatsächlich unterschiedliche optische und physikalische Eigenschaften auf, die sich so stark unterscheiden, dass die Gemmologen sie leicht voneinander unterscheiden können. Es wurde entdeckt, dass Dioptase zur Dekoration von Gipsstatuen aus der Zeit vor 7000 v. Chr. Verwendet wurde.

Dioptasestaub ist aufgrund seines Kupfergehalts giftig. Eine versehentliche Einnahme kann zu ernsthaften Problemen führen. Juweliere und Befestiger sollten Schutzmasken tragen und idealerweise ein Handschuhfach verwenden, um das Einatmen oder Einnehmen von Partikeln während des Polier- und Reinigungsprozesses zu vermeiden. Endstücke stellen jedoch normalerweise keine Gefahr dar. Aufgrund des Spaltmusters sollten unmögliche Frakturen der Dioptase normalerweise mit einem milden Reinigungsmittel, warmem Wasser und einer weichen Bürste gereinigt werden. Dioptase neigt im Allgemeinen dazu, sehr zerbrechlich zu sein, und Proben sollten mit großer Sorgfalt behandelt werden.

Erfahren Sie mehr über die physikalischen Eigenschaften und die Kristallographie der Dioptase bei mindat.

Wir führen eine Auswahl feiner Exemplare der Tsumeb-Dioptase zum Verkauf. Klicken Sie hier für weitere Informationen..

日本語で -美しい緑の翠銅鉱

翠銅鉱は、その強烈なエメラルドグリーンの色のために非常に望まれている珍しい鉱物です。これは、透明から半透明まで変化する銅シクロシリケート鉱物です。鉱物収集家に非常に人気があり、小さな宝石にカットすることもできます。粉砕して、絵画の顔料として使用します。翠銅鉱は通常、石灰岩または方解石層のいずれかで一次鉱物の風化と酸化によって生成される二次鉱物と銅の堆積物として形成されます。マラカイト、クリスコラ、アズライトなどの他の第二銅鉱物と関連している可能性があります。菱面体で終端する6面結晶を形成する三方晶系鉱物です。

翠銅鉱はまれであり、通常は砂漠地帯で見られます。米国内では、預金は主にアリゾナ州に制限されています。世界的にカザフスタン、特にナミビアのツメブ鉱山は、この鉱物の最良の例のいくつかを生産しています。翠銅鉱は、南米のコンゴ、次にアルゼンチンでも見られます。この鉱物のより良い例はかなり費用がかかる可能性があります。

現代では、18世紀の終わりにカザフスタンの中央アジアの草原で翠銅鉱が発見されました。それを発見したロシアの鉱物学者は、それを4つの形のエメラルドと混同しました。エメラルドに似た色をしているにもかかわらず、翠銅鉱は実際には異なる光学的および物理的特性を持っており、宝石学者は簡単に区別することができます。翠銅鉱は、紀元前7000年以前にさかのぼる石膏像を飾るために使用されていたことが発見されました。

翠銅鉱の粉塵は銅含有量が原因で有毒であり、誤って摂取すると深刻な問題を引き起こす可能性があります。宝石商と留め具は保護マスクを着用し、理想的にはグローブボックスを使用して、切削研磨および洗浄プロセス中に粒子を吸い込んだり摂取したりしないようにする必要があります。ただし、仕上げ部品は通常、危険をもたらしません。劈開パターンが不可能なため、翠銅鉱は通常、中性洗剤の温水と柔らかいブラシで洗浄する必要があります。一般に翠銅鉱は非常に壊れやすい傾向があり、検体は細心の注意を払って取り扱う必要があります。

mindatで翠銅鉱の物理的特性と結晶学についてもっと学びましょう。

ツメブ翠銅鉱の厳選された標本を販売しています。 詳細については、ここをクリックしてください。

Top Image Credit: Dioptase Locality: Tsumeb Mine (Tsumcorp Mine), Tsumeb, Otjikoto (Oshikoto) Region, Namibia A startlingly sculptural specimen! Pristine and perfect all around. Erik Louw was a miner on the dioptase stope who traded extensively and accumulated one of the finest Tsumeb miniatures collections, purchased in entirety by the Sussmans in the late 1990’s. 4 x 4 x 1 cm Dioptase-Lokalität: Tsumeb-Mine (Tsumcorp-Mine), Tsumeb, Region Otjikoto (Oshikoto), Namibia Ein erstaunlich skulpturales Exemplar! Rundum makellos und perfekt. Erik Louw war ein Bergmann auf der Dioptase-Station, der ausgiebig handelte und eine der besten Tsumeb-Miniaturensammlungen sammelte, die Ende der 90er Jahre vollständig von den Sussmans gekauft wurden. 4 x 4 x 1 cm 翠銅鉱産地:ナミビア、ツメブ鉱山(ツメブ鉱山)、オシコト地方、ツメブ驚くべき彫刻標本! 手付かずで完璧です。 Erik Louwは、1990年代後半にサスマンによって完全に購入された、ツメブの最高のミニチュアコレクションの1つを幅広く取引し、蓄積した翠銅鉱の鉱夫でした。 4 x 4 x 1 cm By Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10109320

Posted on

This Week’s Mineral Spotlight: Gorgeous Green Malachite

Malachite from Zaire

If the mineral is green and gorgeous there is a good chance it’s malachite. Like its copper cousins Turquoise, Azurite, and Chrysocolla, Malachite is found in copper deposits. It first became useful to humans as an ore used by the ancients to produce copper metal. Today, its primary use is decorative: bracelets, necklaces, pendants, as a gemstone and cabochon, and other types of jewelry. It’s also popular as a tumbled stone and as a standout display specimen for rock and mineral collections.

North American deposits include Mexican deposits in Milpillas; American deposits in Bisbee, Morenci, Bingham Canyon and others; African deposits in Namibia, Gabon, Zambia, Uganda, and The Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire). Russia was at a one a major source of Malachite, particularly gem quality stones, however most of these deposits have been mined out and eclipsed by the quantity and quality of the African deposits. African mines product spectacular massive malachite specimens as well as gem quality malachite, and plancheite, cuprite and carrollite are also present in these deposits.

Malachite from a Smelter's Crucible

Malachite from a Smelter’s Crucible, Egyptian, Joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, ca. 1479–1458 B.C., 18th Dynasty

Copper deposit don’t typically yield huge amounts of malachite. Previously, Russia was the only significant source of a large volume of gem-grade malachite, but as the Russian mines have declined and the African mines became available the African finds have far exceeded Russian production. African banded layers malachite is sometimes over a foot thick with very tightly packed submicroscopic needle crystals. Since the opening of the African mines, the mineral market has great cutting-grade malachite with bands of very light green to almost black- green.

Malachite was well known to the ancients.  It’s Latin name, “Molchitis” derives from the Greek “molochites lithos” whose meaning is “mallow green stone” due to the mineral’s resemblance to the mallow plant’s leaves.  Some evidence exists o Malachite mining in Britain at the Great Orme Mines perhaps as far back as the 3rd and 4th millenia B.C. There is also archaeological evidence of Malachite mining and smelting to produce copper 3,000 years ago in the Timna Valley, associated with King Solomon’s Mines in modern day Israel, where it is still mined to today to produce copper. 

Lapidary, work with malachite requires a facemask. The copper carbonate dust from Malachite is poisonous. Most lapidaries use water to cut down on the dust in the air. Undercutting is often a problem during polishing, since each malachite band has a slightly different Mohs hardness, however experienced lapidaries shouldn’t have a problem. Banded malachite is always beautiful no matter how it is used.

Qing Chinese Malachite Carving, Late 18th – Early 19th Century. Seated Luohan With Servant

Above is an outstanding example of carved malachite. A Qing era Chinese art work originating in the late 19th through early 20th century, it depicts a seated luohan, or one who has achieved enlightenment. This particular luohan is identified as Nakula who sits in meditation with a rosary; a boy-servant attends at his feet. From his long eyebrows and position beneath a tree. Carved writing in the upper right corner is a poem of praise for Nakula in the upper right was authored by the Jiaqing emperor (r. 1796–1820) and inscribed in the hand of his elder brother Yongxing (1752–1823).

Malachite Monumental Vase

French Monumental Malachite Vase. Lapidary Work Early 19th Century, Pedestal And Mounts By Pierre Phillippe Thomire

The monumental vase above is crafted from Russian malachite, bronze, gilt bronze and a filling material. Malachite grows in layers of tiny crystals its colors correlating with different crystal sizes, creating the pattern. During the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, most malachite came from Russian mines by the noble Demidov family. The family exploited hardstone quarries and metal deposits located on their estates in the remote Ural Mountains. In the 1820s on of the great discoveries in the history of semiprecious stones happened when an enormous malachite boulder around five hundred tons was unearthed there. Malachite is extremely brittle, so only small display objects can be cut from single blocks of the material. Large objects require a core structure, to which the malachite can be attached in thin pieces, effectively a veneer. Russian craftsmen developed a method to use the stone’s natural pattern and a precision cutting technique to form a continuing or “endless” ornamentation. This type of veneering appears nearly seemless and is called “Russian mosaic”.

The Demidov family used the flashy appearance of malachite to improve their social status, filling their palaces with the material and even decorating an entire room with the green stone, which inspired Czar Nicolas I to commission the famous Malachite Room in the Czar’s Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg.

The monumental vase above is modeled on an ancient Roman bell-shaped krater, the most famous example of which is the first-century Medici Vase, now in the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. This shape was quite much admired through the early nineteenth century. Count Nikolai Demidov commissioned this particular malachite vase for his villa at San Donato, near Florence. Unlike with the Russian mosaic technique, large areas of this vase’s surface is composed of small malachite particles mixed with filling substance in the same way as modern terrazzo. This raw malachite was probably transported from one of his mines to Florence to be shaped and finished by local artists not trained in the specialized Russian technique. The vase would then have been sent onwards to Paris to be fitted with its mounts and pedestal.

The gilded bronze winged female figures on the body of the vase represent Fame. Their trumpets are shaped like handles, although the vase is too heavy to be lifted like a loving cup. A gilded bronze laurel garland of laurel (Laurus nobilis) runs under the lip mount. The laurel had been adopted by Lorenzo de’ Medici (who was also a lavish patron of the arts) as an emblem of his house with the motto “Ita ut virtus,” or “Thus is virtue”— that is to say, virtue is evergreen. It’s use here implies that the Demidov’s hoped that their fortune would also be evergreen.

The mounts and bronze pedestal were made by Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751–1843), known throughout Europe for his bronze decorations and ornamental sculpture. He established a reputation before the French Revolution with beautiful mounts for Sèvres porcelain vases. In 1804 he founded a workshop that produced furniture as well as luxury bronzes.

Malachite and Azurite

Malachite with Azurite

Malachite Thumbnail

PropertyDescription of Malachite
Chemical Composition:Cu2(CO3)(OH)2
Mohs Hardness:3.5 to 4.0
Specific Gravity:3.6 to 4.0
Crystal System:Monclinic
Cleavage:Perfect in one direction, fair in a second direction
Diaphaneity:Most examples are opaque while crystals are translucent
Luster:Polishes to a very bright luster. Large specimens tend to be dull and earthy. Silky luster in fibrous examples. Unusual crystals trend from vitreous to adamantine.

Even though chyrsocolla and azurite are both copper based minerals, malachite is a better indicator of the presence of significant copper deposits. The Copper Queen mine in Brisbee was created on the basis of malachite deposits.

Malachite Copper Crescent Zaire Congo

Malachite Copper Crescent from Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Malachite Under a Stereoscopic Microscope

Image of Malachite Taken Under a Stereoscopic Microscope

Malachite has a number of different cultural meanings and associations. For the Chinese, Malachite is a lucky stone for those born in the Year of the Rabbit or Year of the Tiger. For the ancient Egyptians, the color green was associated with death and the power of resurrection – as well as new life and fertility. They believed that the afterlife contained the “Field of Malachite”, an eternal paradise resembling their lives but with no pain or suffering. They also used the material in powder form for cosmetics, particularly to try to resemble Horus, the falcon headed god Those who believe in crystal healing, crystal spirituality believe the stone has any number of healing, or metaphysical properties on the body, spirit or chakra.

View our collection of beautiful malachite specimens for sale, perfect as display piece on your table or mantle, for your collection, or for use in spiritual or crystal healing.

Learn more about Malachite at Mindat.

First image by JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7515677 .

Fifth image by Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10148274.

Sixth image by Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10130475.dex.php?curid=10148274.

Seventh image by Karolina Fok – Own work, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=84931097.rg/w/index.php?curid=10148274.