Calcite with Chalcotrichite inclusions, on Copper

Item Description

This is quite simply one of the most stunning, unique, and colorful specimens in the collection, and a very widely known specimen from past exhibits. It demands attention for the contrasts, color, and the unlikely red core that looks like a heart with a gem calcite crystal. It is a gorgeous and completely transparent calcite (2.9 cm tip to doubly terminated tip), richly included with a bright cherry-red zone of minute chalcotrichite crystals within, and then perched on a natural pedestal of finely crystallized copper beneath. This combination of a translucent colorless to red interior (caused by copper), perched on copper, is a study in contrasts. Photo (Scovil): Minerals: The Collectors Newspaper, 2014; 8: 17. Recently published in Mineralogical Record, Refined Elegance: The Small Treasures of Mineralogy, November 2022 (full page photo!). Exhibit: Special Exhibit of Connoisseur Thumbnails at the 2013 the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, with label. Exhibit: Special thumbnail exhibit of African Thumbnails held at the 49th Munich Gem and Mineral Show, October 2014. We had so many requests for this specimen, that it might just be the single most requested piece in the collection of 888 display specimens. It is a mineral specimen, quite simply, unique in the world.