Cerussite with Malachite

Describing some specimens can be a challenging pleasure, whereby nothing is quite as it first appears.  This cauliflower-like abundance of glassy translucent Cerussite, attached to micro-crystalline botryoidal bluish-green Malachite, initially looks like a rounded mass.  But on closer examination these mounds, which exceed 3 cm across, are built from densely stacked twined crystals in stepped ascending tiers.  These exposed euhedral terminations indicate repeated cyclic twinning, forming small stellate sixlings.  This specimen’s in-situ ‘way-up’ is also apparent, due to a preferential dusting of micro-rhombic crystalline Calcite.  A beautiful and quite charming Tsumeb miniature.