Dioptase with Wulfenite (new find!)

Item Description

From the discovery in early January 2019, these are some of the most interesting pieces from the well-known Mpita Mine located on the railroad between Lutete and Mindouli in Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville). There are few people that don't know about Dioptase as a species, but there are only a handful of world localities where superb specimens can be found. The Mpita Mine Dioptase specimens (at their best) are among the finest in the world in terms of size, color and quality, but these new specimens are honestly a bit different from most of the pieces that we've handled in the past. A departure from the large individual crystals, you can see that piece pieces host smaller beautiful semi-parallel growth clusters of Dioptase with that same glowing emerald green hue on matrix. The crystals might be smaller than we're used to seeing but the are highly lustrous with prismatic trigonal form and are even a bit gemmier when backlit. The best part of the specimen is not the Dioptase, but the many small brilliant orange-yellow crystals of Wulfenite sprinkled around. We took some micro photos with a Canon MP-E 65 mm macro lens to better illustrate the quality of the little Wulfenites, and you can see that they are actually pyramidal in habit, which is not common in our experience. The stark contrast of the Dioptase and the Wulfenites is wonderful, and definitely remind me of pieces from Tiger, Arizona. There are VERY few spots of damage on the piece, and I had a blast looking at it under the microscope. If you consider the high values on Tsumeb Dioptase specimens, you can pick up this gorgeous piece for a great price, with a hard to find association.