Cuprite on Dendritic Copper, Ray Mine, Pinal County, Arizona, USA CHOICE!
A superb and classic, sparkling, two-sided specimen from this historic locale featuring flattened, strikingly arborescent copper overlain by burgundy-red, opaque to translucent cuprite crystals. The copper crystals are very bright with sharp edgework, forming well-defined faces and presenting both spinel twinning and elongate tetrahexahedral habit. The cuprite exhibits penetration twinning, resulting in complex rosette-like geometries, along with classic textbook pseudo-octahedral and cubic habits. Crystal faces have an adamantine to sub-metallic luster, with deep red fire under direct lighting. Minor bird nips are apparent under magnification however these do not detract from the visual presentation. A fine and noteworthy classic from a historic locality, sourced from a forty-year-old collection.
Dimensions: 30 x 22 x 7 mm. The main area of cuprite occurrence measures 15 x 10 mm.
