Polished Congo Chrysocolla Sphere - 60mm, 323g

Polished Congo Chrysocolla Sphere - 60mm, 323g

Regular price £94.99 Sale

Locality - Kalukuluku, Congo
Size – 60mm
Weight – 323g

This attractive chrysocolla sphere boasts intricate patterns in highly contrasting vivid sky blue, lush forest green and dark earthy brown tones. It has a quirky, slightly uneven surface due to the variation in hardness throughout the stone which gives it a pleasant rustic look. This material is rarely seen in sphere form making this piece extra special, and it will be sent accompanied with a wooden sphere stand as photographed, ready to go on display.


About Chrysocolla

Chrysocolla is a hydrous copper silicate – a member of a small group of copper-bearing gems that includes malachite, azurite, larimar, sunstone, tourmaline and turquoise - typically found as glassy botryoidal or rounded masses or bubbly crusts, jackstraw mats of tiny acicular crystals or tufts of fibrous crystals. The name was first used by Theophrastus in 315 B.C. and comes from the Greek chrysos, meaning "gold," and kolla, meaning "glue," referring to its use as a flux in soldering gold. Pure chrysocolla is opaque and is found in various shades of blue and green. It is often found with traces of copper, iron and manganese oxide, or mixed with other secondary copper minerals such as malachite, azurite, turquoise, opal or quartz. On its own, chrysocolla is very soft and fragile (with a hardness of only 2), but when mixed with these other minerals becomes harder (at 6.5 – 7), more durable and also shows unique patterns in a wide range of colours. Deposits are found in Chile, Israel, Mexico, Peru, Russia, Nevada and D.R. Congo.