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Bisbee is one of the best known and historic mining towns in the whole of the USA. Founded in 1880, the various mines produced copper, silver and gold, but the area is best known for its copper production and copper minerals. I have to admit, until writing this I did not realise Bisbee hosted so many mineral species, a very impressive 292, to which it is the type locality to seven. The mining district is probably best known for its world-class specimens of the copper carbonate Malachite, closely followed by Azurite. This Azurite specimen forms a near circular, ovalized display surface measuring 10.7 x 8.7 cm, completely encrusted with perfectly developed platy Azurite crystals, forming a bed of intergrown, lustrous flattened prisms. As is often the case, the Azurite appears intensely dark blue, almost black, in certain lighting conditions, yet when intensely lit, the translucent crystals glow inky deep violet and patchy deep purple. The Azurite covers a matrix of rusty brown gossan, a specimen clearly from the upper levels in the orebody. The Bisbee mining district lies within the Warren District of the Mule Mountains in Cochise County, Arizona. If you should be visiting the Tucson Fine Mineral Gallery or February Show, then Bisbee is just a 106 mile drive south east, only 11 miles north of the Mexican border.
107 x 87 x 42 mm