I have a parcel of old stock Bisbee I picked up many years ago. An occasional stone looks like it has chrysocolla in it. I know the stock is real Bisbee and on cutting most stones are clearly Bisbee, but 1 or 2 look like the photo even from same parcel. Thoughts ?
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The Copper Queen mine would have produced Chrysocolla. It is normal to see this in copper mines. Malachite and Lapis Lazuli(lapis forms the same way as copper in the same types of geological areas) are also common. A lot of the copper mines had these as well as turquoise. There is a story that in the Morenci mine they dumped tons of tailings where the workers were collecting turquoise and smuggling it out in their lunch boxes. When you look at the value of the copper versus the value of the other minerals and compare the quantities available it becomes clear that the copper will win every time. You can look online and find videos on you tube where they take malachite and crush it then heat extract the copper. Real simple process.
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My question/concern is the occasional stone from my own stock and the old Lavender Pit I bought many years ago, looks like turquoise with chrysocolla inclusions. Old geology prof, here. The stone tests as specific gravity and hardness of good turquoise. The matrix is chocolate as Bisbee should be and residue while cutting is the muddy red you get while cutting Bisbee. The stones are nice but just different from the rest of the old parcels. I also checked and chrysocolla did occur alongside turquoise at Bisbee. Just strange.
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To me the first stone in particular looks similar to Chrysocolla. I wouldn’t describe the matrix in it as chocolate. Not sure about the second one.
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I am a little confused.
To me, both stones look like they have Azurite in them.
I have several rough stones with Turquoise or Chrysocolla that also contain Azurite.
Also have some stones with Chrysocolla, Malachite and Azurite.
Lapis Lazuli and Azurite look very much alike, so sometimes it is hard to tell the difference.
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I agree. But hardness tests much higher than chrysocolla. Before cutting, the matrix was chocolate and the water run off was same red as my other Bisbee. I have watched the John Hartman Bisbee cutting YouTube video and all the rest of my parcel I bought back in the 80’s exhibits Bisbee . Like I said, this is just an anomaly . I know chrysocolla was found at Bisbee as well. It is a very nice, beautiful stone and very unique and very hard. Perhaps there was a chrysocolla stone or two thrown in the parcel . Thanks for everyone’s input!
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I love this site and the information people might share. I believe the stone is probably chrysocolla/azurite. It is interesting it was in the Bisbee parcel I bought many years ago. Further research confirmed chrysocolla and azurite deposits at Bisbee. So probably the collector just threw in some random “blue” stones along with the turquoise. Mineral collectors note the most beautiful and hardest azurite and chrysocolla comes from Bisbee.
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