Olivenite on Quartz

A stunning museum quality specimen of wonderfully crystallised Olivenite richly draped over large, well terminated Quartz crystals from Wheal Unity, part of the St. Day United Mines in the parish of Gwennap, Cornwall, England. This group of mines just north of Redruth, which includes Wheal Gorland, is probably the most famous set in Cornwall. Rusty iron-stained milky Quartz richly mixed with massive Olivenite forms a matrix over which large Quartz crystals have grown, of which only their hexagonal terminations are developed with no visible sign of the prism faces. This is a characteristic frequently observed in Quartz around the St. Day area. The largest quartz crystal measures to about 4.5 cm high. The intensely dark green Olivenite, appearing almost black, forms an amazingly rich drusy thick coating draped over the Quartz in two main areas of 2.5 x 2.5 cm and 4 x 3 cm. The Olivenite has grown in radial clusters, each emanating from a 1 to 3 mm diameter sphere of tan-ochre coloured “Wood Olivenite”.  This specimen of Olivenite from Wheal Unity would not look out of place in the NHM or Rashleigh Gallery.