Descloizite (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

There is a bit of a debate as to the locality for this specimen. There are two labels accompanying the piece: One is from the Service de Conservation des Especies Minerales in Paris which states the specimen is from Broken Hill (Kabwe Mine) in Zambia. The label from Kay Robertson states that it's from Tsumeb. I'm not convinced that either locality is correct as I feel it could very well be from Berg Aukus. If anybody out there has some insight as to where this piece is from, please feel free to let us know. The piece features reddish-brown colored, translucent, very sharp, rather lustrous, bladed crystals - some of which have formed semi "rosette"-like groups. The largest individual crystal measures about 6 mm. There is some damage on the piece, but there are many undamaged crystals that can be seen upon close inpsection. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#2895). Kay is a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics (see the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien Welt" November-December 2017).