Home > Copper Minerals I – May 5 > MS1062 Chalcocyanite
Chalcocyanite - Sold
- Mount Vesuvius
- Campania
- Italy
- 7 by 0.7 cm glass tube – Gelatin capsule size (<1 cm)
Chalcocyanite is a rare anhydrous copper sulfate. Scacchi (1873) originally named this species hydrocyanite. Later, noting that the mineral is anhydrous, Palache et al. (1951) renamed the mineral in the seventh edition of Dana's System of mineralogy. The mineral forms in hot volcanic fumaroles, and is unstable in humid air. A typewritten note indicates this material came from an 1870 eruption of Vesuvius. The material is a pale gray powder, likely admixed with matrix, sealed in a glass tube.
This specimen was part of the personal collection of Ralph Merrill, proprietor of the prolific mail order business Minerals Unlimited. Merrill's collection card and label also ship with the specimen.
