Home > Copper Minerals – January 21 > MS1496 Azurite rose

Azurite rose - Sold


Azurite is a well known mineral, named for its azure color. Chemically, azurite is a hydrous copper carbonate. While known since antiquity, it was French mineralogist F. S. Beudant (1787-1850) who first applied the currently accepted name, azurite, to this mineral species in his 1832 Traité Élémentaire de Minéralogie.

Azurite typically forms bladed crystals, sometimes in radiating aggregates. When azurite forms in such a convoluted aggregate of crystals, collectors call such a specimens an 'azurite rose'. This is a fine azurite rose from southern China. From material brought back by mineral dealer Russell Behnke in the 1980s. Complete with only minor chipping. A vintage Chinese label accompanies the specimen.