Minerals:  Azurite, Malachite & Secondary Copper Minerals on Fluorite & Barite
Locality: Sidi Ayed, Boulemane Province, Fès-Meknès Region Morocco 
Dimensions: 94mm x 50mm x 21mm
Weight: 95g

This is an extraordinary old stock Sidi Ayed specimen, from a locality celebrated for some of Morocco’s most complex combinations of secondary copper minerals with fluorite and barite. The district produced a very distinctive suite of azurite, malachite, fluorite, barite and iron rich mineralisation, often developed through multiple generations of growth. Material of this calibre has become increasingly difficult to replace, especially in specimens where the different mineral phases are all so strongly expressed.

This piece is really all about texture and form. Vivid malachite and deep blue azurite are distributed beautifully through the specimen, with a bright sky blue secondary copper coating developed over sharply structured cubic fluorite - likely to be Chrysocolla, but impossible to confirm without formal analysis. Well defined barite blades rise through the piece, giving the whole composition a wonderfully sculptural quality, while rich orange iron coatings bring another layer of colour through the matrix.

There's a lot of mineral history preserved here. The fluorite, barite and later copper minerals demonstrate distinct phases, with the surface moving through deep azurite blue, fresh malachite green, pale aqua and iron rich orange. The balance of those colours is exceptional, but so is the way the minerals are physically arranged.

This piece has serious cabinet presence. It's one of those old Sidi Ayed pieces that immediately explains why the locality has became so important to collectors - it's complex, vibrant and beautifully formed, with multiple mineral phases all working together in within the single specimen. Phenomenal.