Azurite
High-end Mineral Specimens
Azurite is a soft, deep-blue copper carbonate mineral that forms in the oxidized zones of copper deposits. Copper gives it its intense color, and it commonly occurs with green malachite as prismatic crystals, rosettes, nodules or massive material.
Identity
- Material or variety
- Azurite
- Scientific or material identity
- Azurite
- Classification
- Natural mineral or mineral variety
- Aliases or trade names
- Chessylite · Azure spar
- Composition or formula
- Cu₃(CO₃)₂(OH)₂
- Crystal system or structure
- Monoclinic
- Geological or manufacturing origin
- Can form in more than one geological environment, or combines several materials.
- Mohs hardness
- 3.5 to 4
Origins
Australia · France · Mexico · Namibia · USA
Appearance & optical properties
deep azure-blue azurite with radiating rosettes.
History & discovery
Azurite was known in the ancient world and used as a blue pigment in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece. The modern name was adopted in 1824 from a Persian root meaning blue; the earlier name chessylite referred to the copper mines at Chessy near Lyon, France.
Uses & care
- Common uses
- Finely ground azurite supplied blue pigment for ancient and medieval art. Today it is mainly collected as a mineral specimen and is occasionally polished into beads, cabochons and ornamental objects.
- Handling and cleaning
- Dust specimens gently and clean polished pieces only with a soft damp cloth. Avoid acids, heat, steam, ultrasonic cleaning and abrasion; azurite is soft, brittle and can alter toward green malachite during weathering.
Jewellery
5 pieces of Azurite jewellery. Learners earn each one in DigMyGem by learning words; until then it shows as a silhouette.
Bisbee Blue Necklace
Necklace
A necklace of polished azurmalachite beads banded in deep blue and green, from the copper country of Bisbee, Arizona. The stone's colour is a memory of weathered copper.
Copper Sky Pendant
Pendant
A pendant holding a polished dome of azurite so dark it looks almost black until the light finds its blue. It is set in copper, the metal the stone grew from.
Azure Vein Ring
Ring
A ring set with a cabochon of azurite veined with malachite, the two copper minerals locked in a single stone. It should be worn gently, for azurite is soft.
Midnight Bloom Brooch
Brooch
An imagined brooch built round a rosette of azurite crystals, deep midnight blue against a bed of green malachite.
Azure Sky Tiara
Tiara
An imagined gold tiara set with azurite, deep blue as a summer sky, and banded green malachite.