Chrysocolla

Chrysocolla is attractive blue-green that provides a unique color to the mineral world. Chyrsocolla is perhaps more appropriately a mineraloid than a true mineral. Most of the time it is amorphous meaning that it does not have a coherent crystalline structure. However at higher temperatures it does demonstrate a distorted crystal structure that seems to be composed of Si4 O10 sheets. Chrysocolla forms in the oxidation zones of copper rich ore bodies.

Pure chrysocolla is soft and fragile and therefore not appropriate for use in jewelry. However, chrysocolla often is "agatized" in chalcedony quartz and it is the quartz that provides the stone with its polish and durability. Druzy Chrysocolla is a rock composed of agatized chysocolla with a crust of small sparkling quartz crystals in small cavities. A skilled craftsman, if able to polish a specimen that accentuates the colored swirles of chrysocolla and sparkles of the druzy quartz, can produce a lovely and valuable piece of jewelry. Occasionally, chrysocolla can have a turquoise color and be used as a fraudulent substitute for the more precious stone.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
• Color is a unique green-blue but can vary widely from more blue to more green, often in the

same specimen.• Luster is earthy to dull or vitreous and waxy.
• Transparency specimens are translucent to opaque.
• Crystal System is probably monoclinic or orthorhombic.
• Growth Habits include mostly massive forms that can be crusts, stalachtites and botryoidal

Also as inclusions in other minerals such as quartz.• Cleavage is absent.
• Fracture is pronounced conchoidal.
• Hardness is variable from 2 to 4.
• Specific Gravity is approximately 2.0 - 2.3 (very light)
• Streak is white to blue-green.
• Associated Minerals are quartz, limonite, azurite, malachite, cuprite and other secondary

copper minerals.• Other Characteristics: may have an opal like appearance.
• Notable Occurrences include Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Pennsylvania, USA; Isreal;

Zaire and England. • Best Field Indicators are lack of crystals, color, fracture, low density and softness.

Chrysocolla was first used by Theophrastus in 315 B.C. and comes from the Greek chrysos, meaning “gold,” and kolla, meaning “glue,” in allusion to the name of the material used to solder gold.
Notable occurrences include Israel, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chile, Peru, Cornwall in England, and Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Zaire, Russia and Pennsylvania in the United States.

According to Judy Hall’s book – Chrysocolla is :• A tranquil and sustaining stone

• Helps meditation and communication
• In the home, draws off negative energies of all kinds
• Beneficial to relationships that have become rocky, stabilizing and healing bot the home and interaction
• Calms, cleanses and reenergizes all the chakras and align them with the divine.
• At solar plexus draws out negative emotions such as guilt and reverses destructive

emotional programming.• At heart chakra, it heals heartache and increases the capacity to love.

• At the throat it improves communication, but also helps to discern when to keep silent.
• At the third eye it opens psychic vision
• Encourages self-awareness and inner balance, and imparts confidence and sensitivity.
• Enhances personal power and inspires creativity
• Treats arthritis, bone disease, muscle spasms, digestive tract, ulcers, blood disorder, and lung problems.
• Detoxifies liver, kidneys, and intestines
• An excellent stone for women, as it treats PMS and menstrual cramps.
• Also beneficial to metabolism

Folklore, Legend, and Healing Properties:
Creativity, female energy, communication, relieves ulcers and arthritis.

Chrysocolla is associated with tranquility and peace, intuition, patience, and unconditional love. It is thought to offer gentle and soothing qualities.