I was going through the inventory in the back storage area looking for some chalcanthite crystal clusters to put out on the floor. Chalcanthite is a blue crystal mainly composed of copper sulfate.
There has been some debate as to whether it is chalcanthite or just copper sulfate, because it is lab grown. However, this particular specimen had it's crystals extracted from a natural piece and regrown on a matrix to provide more crystals. It has all the mineral composition of copper sulfate, alum and other copper minerals as apposed to just copper sulfate.
Under the scope the crystals look fantastic.
As I was retrieving these I notice another crystal cluster that is in a collection we purchased just over a month ago.
It is a red Crocoit cluster found in Tasmania. (an island off the coast of Australia).
It is a monoclinic crystal structure that are long and spindly.
Because of the delicate nature of the crystals, natural terminations are rarely found.
While the color of the crystals is predominantly red/orange, when bright light is shined on them an iridescent yellow comes out in the less dense crystals.
As I was checking out the crystals under the scope, I noticed little white specks between the crystals. This made me very curious, so I put on the 20x eye pieces to get a better look.
I wasn't able to get a clear picture at the higher magnification but the specks are okenite crystals. I am sooo tempted to take this piece home for my personal collection, but if I keep doing that I won't have a store :-D