NATIVE COPPER

ABOUT THE SPECIMEN This beautiful, natural “sculpture” of copper shows neatly arranged dendritic branches of distinct crystals, formed in a thin layer as a result of growth between bedding planes in the sandstone. On one corner is a particularly large spinel-law twinned crystal, and the whole thing looks like some kind of creature, perhaps a seahorse or dragon, with said larger crystal being the head. A surprisingly wide range of colors are also present in the patina, with the majority being dominated with areas of red and black, and some little patches showing bronze and teal. The Itauz Mine had its most productive years between 2005 and 2007 - during which this was likely extracted - and the oxidized zone has since been depleted. Not only is this an excellent locality piece, it's an all-around marvelous piece of natural art that gets attention with its elegant form.   VIDEO   MORE INFO The Itauz Mine sits within the Zhilandy group of sandstone-hosted copper deposits in the Chu-Sarysu Basin, part of the same Pennsylvanian red-bed sequence that hosts the giant Dzhezkazgan deposit. The native copper specimens that appeared in the mid-2000s - particularly finds from 2003, 2007, and 2008 - represent some of the finest crystallized copper ever recovered from any locality. These are predominantly floaters showing dramatic spinel-law twinning in elongated, flattened forms with dendritic and arborescent branching patterns. The crystals display sharp tetrahexahedral faces with what collectors describe as a herringbone or feather-like arrangement, often reaching 4-8 cm in length while remaining remarkably thin. Many specimens carry a characteristic chocolate-brown patina of cuprite at crystal terminations, and occasional small cuprite octahedra grow directly on the copper surfaces. What makes Itauz copper geologically noteworthy is that it formed through relatively recent weathering and reduction processes in an ore system originally deposited 299-309 million years ago during the Pennsylvanian-Permian boundary, when dense metalliferous brines mixed with petroleum fluids trapped in structural anticlines. Production has been sporadic and directly tied to strip mining cycles - when operations circle back through specimen-producing zones, material briefly appears on the market before the mine moves on. The combination of crystallographic perfection, distinctive morphology, and limited availability has established Itauz as one of the most significant copper finds in modern collecting history.