Mineral show

MALACHITE

The stone's name derives (via Latin and French ) from Greek molochitis , "mallow-green stone", from moloche , variant of malache , "mallow". Malachite was used as a mineral pigment in green paints from antiquity until about 1800.

Malachite often results from weathering of copper ores and is often found together with azurite, goethite, and calcite. The green colour of the malachite is indeed rich, bright and generous. The malachite accumulates the real feast of green colour with incredibly wide and rich range of hues from light green to nearly blackish green. Stone carvers distinguish 2 basic varieties of malachite: "plisovy" (silk) and "turquoise" malachite.

"Plisovy" (silk) malachite - "The stone, but when you look at it, it is like silk, one wants to stroke it with the hand", - P.P. Bazov wrote about it. It is of dark green colour with clearly seen ray crystals and a peculiar silk shine.
"Turquoise" malachite is of a pure light green colour and remarkably diversified pictures. Due to its high density the "turquoise" malachite acquires the best polishing.

Malachite is used as an ornamental stone, since it is easily cut and polished. While its softness limits its use as a gemstone, its beauty is hard to resist. It was a popular ornamental stone in Czarist Russia, and was used to make the columns of St. Isaac's Cathedral in Leningrad.

The best varieties of ornamental malachite can be found in the Urals. It has been extracted here since ancient times and it was deemed to be better than anywhere else. In the Urals malachite was known for a long time, but only in the 18th century large blocks of malachite, which could be used for cutting stone articles, were discovered in copper-ore quarries. First discovered malachite from Gumeoshevsky quarry was famous for its rich colour. But soon after the green stone from the Demidovs' mines of Nizhny Tagil became much more popular, than the one from Gumeoshevsky quarry.

Copper ores of the Vysokaya Mountain were discovered at the end of the 17th century, but only at the beginning of the XIX century (1810 - 1814) the Mednorudyansky quarry of unimaginable richness malachite was discovered. That miraculous quarry, which got famous all over the world in a very short time, had not only nice ornamental stone good for making brooches and caskets, but also huge blocks of solid top quality malachite for making enormous vases and fire-places. Since then that kind of malachite was called "Demidov" even in the official papers and it completely eclipsed the glory of Gumeoshevsky malachite.

RHODONITE

There is a remarkable semiprecious stone of red colour in the Urals, which we are definitely proud of, a stone of great ornamental value - rhodonite. It is named after the Greek word for rose, rhodon .In the middle of the 18th century 20 kilometres from Yekaterinburg, near the village of Maloe Sidelnikovo a rich quarry of this wonderful pink - red stone was discovered and called "Orletz" ("The eagle stone") by local residents. None of the world quarries (Sweden , USA , and Australia ) could ever compete with this one. For more than 150 years large blocks of this beautiful semi-precious stone, which weighed up to 47 tons, have been extracted from this quarry.

Rhodonite is a silicate of manganese, formed under special conditions on the contact of magma with rocks rich in manganese. Transparent crystals are few and rare, that is why "Orletz", which consists of a large number of different manganese minerals, is widely used in stone - carving business. "Orletz" stone is typically pink to cherry - pink or raspberry-pink, and even purplish. Being mostly nontransparent it is in fact translucent, which adds to its depth and peculiar bright colour. In large blocks of "Orletz" extraordinary beautiful "nests" of bright red colour looking like rubies can occur.

Its beautiful pink colour often has black manganese oxide veins running through it, giving it a distinct appearance. For this reason it is carved into beads, cabochons, and ornamental objects. In 18th century Russia, it was used extensively for decorating the Russian court.

The glory of the Sidelnikovo rhodonite is all in the past. Those small stocks of this stone are still kept in different workshops, but they run short as well. So articles made of Sidelnikovo rhodonite will soon become unique.

We have used rhodonite for several years, which made it possible to create a collection of rhodonite articles: a table, a fire - place, a clock, candle - stands, caskets, spheres and so on.