Malachite and Azurite Info

As an ex paint chemist, color matcher, and paint salesman the emphasis of my collecetion are minerals that have been used as pigments or those minerals that are the chemical equivalents of synthetic ones. 

The specimen that these designs are derived from is really a true classic. 

 Bisbee is a town in Cochise County, Arizona, USA that was once known for its copper mining. Azurite and malachite are two minerals that are commonly found in the oxidized zone of copper lodes1. Azurite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral with a chemical composition of Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2. It is best known for its characteristic deep blue to violet-blue color2. Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral with the formula Cu2CO3(OH)2. It is usually found in opaque green masses and has a Mohs hardness of 3.5 to 43.

Some of the most classic specimens of Azurite with Malachite are those from Bisbee, Arizona. A portion of this material was used for lapidary purposes, and resulted in some of the most beautiful gemstones of this classic combination from any world locality.

Malachite is a green copper carbonate mineral that has been used as a pigment since ancient times. It was mined in the eastern desert and the west of Sinai by the Egyptians. Cleopatra is recorded to have used malachite to color her eyelids. It was mixed with egg or with the sap of the acacia plant, and used to paint papyrus manuscripts and the walls of tombs . Malachite was also used by many artists as a pigment. Tintoretto was an enthusiastic user of Malachite Green. To obtain the range of greens seen in the rich and varied colours of vegetation in his Saint George and the Dragon from about 1555, he used this pigment with Copper Resinate glazes, a technique found in other paintings of the period .

Azurite is a naturally occurring mineral found particularly in copper-mining areas of the world. It is often found with malachite, a green basic carbonate of copper. There is evidence that azurite has been used since the dawn of modern civilization, dating all the way back to the Fourth Dynasty in Egypt. Azurite was no doubt the most important blue pigment in European painting from the fifteenth to the middle of the seventeenth century. The paintings of that period of time commonly contain more azurite than natural ultramarine (lapis lazuli). Azurite and malachite have been used as gemstones and paint pigments since ancient times. They are prepared as pigments by careful selection, grinding, washing, and levigation. Coarsely ground azurite gives a deep blue color while finely ground particles give a lighter more transparent tone.