Cornetite with Gel Chrysocolla and Malachite, L'Etoile du Congo M., Katanga DRC
RARE AND CHOICE!
This striking and beautiful cabinet piece evokes images of a remote Pacific atoll (pictured), presenting lagoon-blue to sea-green Cornetite over sublime, electric-blue, banded gel chrysocolla. Knobbly botryoids of chrysocolla protrude from the cornetite surface, resembling islands emerging from the surrounding expanse. To complete the analogy, the surface form and colors resemble a 3-D shallow bathymetry map! Viewed from the side, a core of highly brecciated sandstone captures a geologic history of violent diagenesis, with bands of sky-blue chrysocolla and malachite flowing through and around remnant, broken fragments of light tan host rock. Cornetite is a rare secondary copper phosphate, and the L'Etoile du Congo (“Star of the Congo”) Mine is the type locality. The mine is now closed, and specimens from the type locality rarely come to market. I have examined all of the photos available in Mindat's public archives, and this particular gel Chrysocolla association seems quite unusual, not to mention jaw-droppingly gorgeous.
Dimensions: 12.5 x 11 x 4 cm. Weight: 580 g (20oz ).
