Chrysocolla can be thought of as a cousin to Turquoise, but much harder because it also contains silica.
Because it is hard, it takes a good polish and has very good durability.
Chrysocolla is sometimes colored pure blue, sometimes green, and sometimes a nice mixture of both blue and green. Often times in a mottled pattern.
When Chrysocolla is blue and translucent it is called Gem Silica and is priced per carat. I have a small amount of this in stock.
Most of the pieces in the picture on the left are actually Turquoise but the 3 pieces in the center are Chrysocolla.
This is an example of rought Chrysocolla which has quite a bit of green in it.
The photo on top shows 1 side of this piece of Chrysocolla rough. This side is mostly a blue color.
This is a good hard piece of material with a high amount of silica in it. It is not translucent and is mostly opaque, which makes for excellent inlay material.
The photo on the bottom shows the other side of this piece. You can see that this has blotches of green in it which makes for a nice blue and green pattern.
This pendant is an example of how the Chrysocolla looks when it is inlaid.
Denton Anderson,
Gemologist & Gem Cutter
click photo for Video
Graduate Gemologist, GIA, GG
Over 20 years of experience.
