Minerals:  Azurite & Malachite on Barite
Locality: Sidi Ayed, Boulemane Province, Fès-Meknès Region Morocco 
Dimensions: 112mm x 50mm x 23mm
Weight: 55.5g

This is an extraordinary old stock plate from Sidi Ayed, a locality celebrated for complex secondary copper mineralisation on barite. Azurite and malachite from the district can occur in wonderfully intricate combinations, with later copper growths developing across earlier mineral forms and creating specimens with far more going on than a simple azurite coating.

The azurite here is some of the brightest blue I’ve seen in a specimen, with intense saturation and dazzling sparkle across the surface. Crystallised malachite grows over and around it in places, adding another layer of detail, while some sections suggest subtle pseudomorphic growth where one copper mineral appears to have developed over an earlier form.

Two distinct barite flowers are especially beautiful, each carrying coatings of azurite and iron minerals that give them a wonderfully dramatic appearance. The specimen also has two very different display personalities depending on which side you choose. One side reads as darker and more mineral rich, while the other opens up into brighter blue azurite and more obvious crystallised malachite.

It has excellent presence, but the real appeal is in the colour and surface detail. There’s incredible sparkle throughout, and every angle seems to reveal another section of azurite, malachite or barite. It’s one of those Sidi Ayed pieces that feels far more complex in person than appears in photographs.