Azurite (w. malachite after azurite, cerussite and smithsonite)

TSNB807
Specimen
Betts, J.Conklin, L.Kegel, F.W.Smithsonian (USNM)
Exhibit 1. Azurite (w. malachite after azurite, cerussite and smithsonite); 65 mm.
Exhibit 1. Azurite (w. malachite after azurite, cerussite and smithsonite); 65 mm.
Image Credit: Paul Melville
Exhibit 2. Specimen label (L. Conklin).
Exhibit 2. Specimen label (L. Conklin).
Image Credit: Paul Melville
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Specimen Title

Azurite (w. malachite after azurite, cerussite and smithsonite)

Associated Minerals

cerussite; malachite; smithsonite

Principal Mineral

Azurite

Precursor Mineral

Azurite

Size

Cabinet; 65mm

Location in the Mine

First oxidation zone

Provenance

Kegel, F.W.; Smithsonian (USNM); Conklin, L.; Betts, J.

Collection

Melville, P.; 1415

Entry Number

Specimen; TSNB807

Associated Minerals

cerussite; malachite; smithsonite

Description

A plate of off-white and slightly iron-stained smithsonite with a veneer of malachite on which rest slender prismatic pseudomorphs of malachite after azurite (to 15 mm) and sparse crystals of colourless-white cerussite. A second generation of azurite has crystallised over the terminations of some of the malachite pseudomorphs.

The specimen was purchased from John Betts and is accompanied by an earlier label from dealer Lawrence Conklin (Exhibit 2) attributing it to the collection of F.W. Kegel, general manager at Tsumeb between 1922 and 1932. This dates the specimen unequivocally to the first oxidation zone. The Kegel Collection was purchased from Kegel’s widow for the Smithsonian in 1950 (White 1977).