Botryoidal Malachite (Yangchun)
- Species
- Malachite
- Crystal system
- Monoclinic
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 3.5–4
- Chemistry
- Cu₂CO₃(OH)₂
- Dimensions
- 26 × 14 × 20 cm (10.2 × 5.5 × 7.9 in)
- Weight
- 5.25 kg (11.6 lb)
- Grade
- Museum Grade
- Treatment
- 100% Natural · Untreated
Turquoise-green to deep peacock-green spheres of every size crowd together like a head of impossibly round broccoli. Each sphere shades from lighter crown to darker valley, so the piece carries its own built-in shadows. The surface reads as velvet, with countless pinpoint reflections glittering across it under light; small tan windows of matrix show through here and there — natural, part of how the piece grew.
Malachite grows in rounded, layered swells where copper-rich water seeps slowly through stone — and Yangchun in Guangdong is one of the localities that made Chinese malachite famous among collectors. This full, mounded specimen is the habit at its purest: sphere upon sphere of green, not a single sharp edge anywhere on it.
Why collectors want this
Minerals are a kingdom ruled by edges and points; this piece is the soft exception. All curve, no angle — a form that reads as organic, almost botanical, from any distance. Botryoidal malachite at this fullness and color depth is what the Yangchun name stands for.
Living with it
Display dry, always: no water rinsing, no acidic cleaners — malachite is a copper carbonate and reacts to both. Its surface is also soft (Mohs 3.5–4), so clean only with a soft air blower, never a cloth. Diffuse light from above lets each sphere keep its own gradient of green.
Packed by value-graded protection and shipped tracked & insured worldwide (DHL / FedEx / UPS), dispatched within 3–7 business days.