
Image Credit: Paul Melville

Image Credit: Paul Melville


Specimen Title
Azurite (w. malachite after azurite, cerussite and smithsonite)
Associated Minerals
cerussite; malachite; smithsonite
Principal Mineral
Precursor Mineral
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).