Aragonite

Lavrion Mining District, Lavreotiki, East Attica, Attica, Greece

A large piece of blue aragonite flowstone, 23 cm long, in the soft sky blue to turquoise that collectors prize in Lavrion aragonite. Bands of white and pale gray aragonite run across the blue and record, layer by layer, how the flowstone grew. The surface is gently botryoidal, with rounded, satiny swells that catch the light like a frozen wave. A little brown matrix remains on one side. The blue comes from copper, most likely from very fine inclusions of copper minerals such as aurichalcite. Lavrion in Attica is one of the oldest mining districts in Europe; in antiquity its silver paid for the Athenian fleet. Today collectors know it for its secondary minerals, and blue aragonite of this size and color is rarely offered. An impressive display piece from a classic locality.