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Ch. 6: Opal

Ch. 6: Opal Page of 515 Ch. 6: Opal Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
MALACHITE.
337
dant; yet much depends upon the size of the various spe-cimens. At St. Petersburg, a very large slab, said to be in the collection formerly belonging to Dr. Guthrie, thirty-two inches long, seventeen inclies broad, and two inches thick, was valued at twenty thousand francs. Many rooms in several European palaces are laid out with malachite; and the Mineralogical Museum, at Jena, possesses a large collection of malachite, which was presented by the Grand Duchess of Saxe Weimar, a Russian princess.
An apartment in the Grand Trianon, at Versailles, is furnished with pier and centre tables, mantel-pieces, ewers and basins, and enormous ornamental vases of malachite, the gift of the Emperor Alexander to Napoleon.
The malachite furniture exhibited by the Russian govern­ment at the London Exhibition, excited so much admira­tion and was sold at such high prices, that the author con­siders himself justified in copying a part of the report by the jury on inlaid work in malachite:
" Malachite is a peculiar mammillated or stalagmitic form of the green carbonate of copper, chiefly found in an avail­able state for inlaid work, in a very few localities in Siberia, and lately in South Australia. It has long been employed in Russia in this manufacture. The mineral is remarkable for its fine emerald-green color (often present­ing several distinct shades in the same specimen), its bril­liant and silky lustre, and compact texture. It is softer than marble, very much heavier, and by no means so easily worked, owing to its brittleness and the concentric arrange­ment it generally presents. It can rarely be found in masses weighing more than ten to twenty pounds, and good specimens have a very high value, as the finer kinds are used exclusively for decorative purposes.
" The most important locality at present known for the finer kinds of Siberian malachite, is in the copper ground
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Ch. 6: Opal Page of 515 Ch. 6: Opal
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