Natural Cleiophane Green Sphalerite with Quartz Cluster Crystal from Bulgaria 40g

A dense cluster of cleiophane crystals fills most of this small piece, their faces glassy and finely striated in a grey-green that warms toward olive along the edges. The crystals interlock at all angles, so the surface breaks into dozens of small planes rather than one clean face. White sugary quartz packs the gaps and spreads across the right-hand side, a few brassy chalcopyrite specks sit low on the left, and one area on the right carries a faint iridescent tarnish film in blue and gold.

Cleiophane is the low-iron variety of sphalerite; the less iron in the structure, the further the color moves from black toward green, yellow and honey. This one sits in the grey-green middle of that range. From the Rhodope lead-zinc deposits in Bulgaria. Untreated. Sphalerite is 3.5 to 4 on the Mohs scale and quartz 7, and at 45mm the piece is a comfortable size to pick up and turn.

Natural cleiophane green sphalerite with quartz, Bulgaria, single piece.