Chrysocolla: Properties, Facts and Photos

Chrysocolla is a copper-bearing mineral best known for its vivid blue to blue-green colour. Pure chrysocolla is soft and fragile, so must be handled carefully.

What is Chrysocolla?

Chrysocolla, whose colour comes from copper, is often found close to copper minerals such as malachite, turquoise, quartz, and azurite.

When polished, chrysocolla can be mistaken for turquoise.

Chrysocolla occurs as botryoidal or rounded masses. Botryoidal means it has a clustered grape-like shape. Rounded masses are smooth, curved formations.

Chrysocolla can also be found as 'bubbly crusts', meaning it forms bubbly layers on the surface of rocks or other minerals.

Although soft in its purest form, chrysocolla can be considerably harder when combined with quartz.
  
Chrysocolla is widely used as a decorative stone, but because it's so soft, it can be difficult to work with. On the Mohs scale of hardness, pure chrysocolla grades 2.5 to 3.5, but when combined with quartz, it can increase to 7.

Although mined in several locations, large quantities of commercial-grade chrysocolla come from Africa, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Meaning of Chrysocolla

The name 'chrysocolla' comes from the Greek 'chrysos', meaning 'gold', and 'kolla', meaning glue. When translated, it means 'gold solder'.

In ancient texts, gold solder describes a solder used on gold. It's not known for certain whether the solder was green copper carbonate, which is the mineral malachite or blue hydrated copper silicate, which is chrysocolla.

Despite numerous tests on gold artefacts, there is still no definitive answer.

The ancient Greek philosopher Theophrastus wrote about chrysocolla in his treatise Theophrastus on Stones. It's believed 'chrysocolla' was a term used to describe all bright green copper minerals, including malachite.
He wrote, "Chrysokolla can be found in large quantities in gold mines and even more in copper mines."

He also said it's present in 'kyanos', which in Greek means blue copper carbonate. Blue copper carbonate is a geological description of the mineral azurite, which confirms malachite was part of the group of minerals known as 'chrysokolla'.

In later writings, the Roman author and naturalist Pliny the Elder says the "ancients used the name chrysocolla more as a reference to the stone we know today as malachite." He goes on to say it should not be confused with modern chrysocolla.

He states, "Gold is dug out of the earth and in close proximity to it chrysocolla, a substance which may appear all the more precious and still retains the name which it borrowed from gold."

Pliny describes chrysocolla as a liquid found in mine shafts that flows through the veins of gold. He describes it as a kind of slime which hardens and becomes "like a stone during the cold winter."

He says the finest chrysocolla can be found in silver mines, then in copper mines.

More About Chrysocolla

Early Native American Indians used chrysocolla for healing and to cope with emotional challenges. It was also powdered and used as a digestive aid to improve the body's resistance to disease and to relieve arthritic symptoms. 

The dust from many minerals, whether inhaled or ingested, is toxic. The greatest risks come from copper-bearing minerals, which can release harmful copper compounds when inhaled as fine dust.

Turquoise contains relatively low amounts of copper, while chrysocolla, azurite and malachite contain significantly more. For this reason, protective breathing equipment should always be worn when cutting or polishing these minerals.

Minerals containing copper should never be used as an elixir.

With pure chrysocolla being exceptionally soft, it should be handled as little as possible. Stones with more quartz are far more resilient. 

Article Pictures

The chrysocolla in the photo at the top of our article is in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. Photo: Stone Mania.

The second photo of chrysocolla with quartz is from Arizona. Photo: Courtesy of Steve Blyskal. 

The next photo is malachite on chrysocolla from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo: Courtesy of Stan Celestian.

The chrysocolla tumbled stones are from our collection.

Pop-up photos
Botryoidal malachite: Courtesy of Ron Wolf. Azurite: Courtesy of Stan Celestian.