Chrysocolla, Azurite

This fist-sized azurite specimen features a showy display of deep blue, highly lustrous botryoidal formations, accented by light blue chrysocolla for added visual interest. Only a little bit of brown oxidized matrix remains on the specimen. It is a classic and colourful example of secondary copper mineralization from the renowned Bisbee mining district in southern Arizona.

Bisbee is one of the most famous mineral localities in the United States, celebrated for producing some of the world’s finest azurite specimens, along with a diverse suite of secondary copper minerals. Founded in 1880 as a copper, gold, and silver mining town, Bisbee saw rapid growth in the early 20th century. By 1910, its population exceeded 9,000, and the advent of open-pit mining in 1917 enabled it to meet surging wartime copper demands.

For more on Bisbee’s mineralogical and historical significance, see the blog post by David Joyce [here].