CopperA very attractive locality specimen from Corocoro which was collected in October of 2010. Most people are familiar with the Copper pseudomorphs after Aragonite from this locality, but to find non pseudomorphic native Copper is rather rare. This beautiful, aesthetic, branching, arborescent group of crudely crystallized Copper is a great display specimen from this historic locality. For the size and aesthetic, this piece is one of the better samples of

metallic Pyrite (pseudomorphs after compressed rhombohedra of Siderite) which are associated with minor grey crystals of the rare sulfide

and the midges make for a great contrast against the "rice grain"-esque beetles frozen inside

It’s rare to find a pair of intergrown twins like this from Tasna

Great quality and rather aesthetic for the material

well-formed blocky orthorhombic Hopeite crystals sitting on reddish-brown altered Sandstone matrix

This piece hosts several groups of Franckeite consisting of somewhat "sword"-shaped crystals forming spherical aggregates which are sitting on minor iridescent Sphalerite and/or Wurtzite with minor associated Pyrite and Quartz on matrix

which gives the piece great character

and are certainly the best of what they are from Bolivia

It should be noted that this crystal does a slight color change in different temperature lighting as it can shift from the golden "champagne" hue to more of a greenish overtone

I have photographed the crystals under the microscope to better illustrate their quality

so the piece has wonderful balance

Baddeley found an unusual mineral and sent samples back to London for analysis