Austinite (formerly Barthite)

Item Description

This item is part of a special benefit auction for the Rice Museum of Rocks & Minerals (ricenorthwestmuseum.org). Items are either deaccessions from the museum's collection or were donated by generous supporters listed below.

Auction open April 1, 2021 through April 17, 2021.

Billing for this auction will occur on Monday, April 19, for payment using PayPal or credit card. Shipping will be billed at cost, or please contact brandy@mineralauctions.com if you'd like to plan on picking up items at future shows or during a stop through Dallas.

This is first and foremost a gorgeous green, sparkly, mineral specimen from Mexico but also one with an interesting history of name-change: it is the mineral formerly known as Barthite and later reclassified as Cu-bearing austinite or overgrowths of conichalcite on Cu-bearing austinite. This specimen, with such rich color, is probably a mix of both the conichalcite and austinite, and it is all mixed together to create one overall green tone, with subtleties in the detail. It is an intact large display face of high quality, of a richness we have not seen for sale. It is said these came out prior to the 1980s, and we have seen smaller ones in old collections but not of this magnitude. The matrix is well trimmed to frame the piece, and the color contrast is striking. A rare, significant mineral, that actually occurs at its best from this mine. Small sharp calcite crystals give a nice accent as a bonus.