Olivenite on Malachite (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

Lustrous, very dark green colored Olivenite prisms cover botryoidal Malachite on this excellent and showy specimen from Tsumeb. Olivenite is a highly desirable secondary copper arsenate from this now-closed locality, and a piece on attractive matrix like this is certainly worth picking up. The largest Olivenite crystals measures 1.2 cm long. The piece has some contacts, so it's not damage free, but it's a nice reference specimen for anybody who loves secondary copper minerals or species from Tsumeb. I don't have to tell you that the value of Tsumeb specimens seems to rise daily, and fine quality specimens are now highly sought after, and prized more than ever by dealers and collectors alike. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#6259). 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).