Sonora Sunset Chrysocolla Handmade Stone Pendant Wrapped in Silver

This pendant is made of Mexican Sonora Sunset (also known as Sonora Sunrise) Chrysocolla and hand-wrapped in 12 gauge sterling silver wire.

Sonora Sunset, also called Sonora Sunrise, is Cuprite and Chrysocolla joined in a single stone. Chrysocolla is bright green, even turquoise or sky-blue in some samples, and cuprite the tomato-red. Some lapidaries favor Sonora sunrise that has a third color, black, caused by tenorite, which is also a copper oxide . The stone is named for Sonora, the state in Northwest Mexico that borders Arizona and New Mexico and which is the source of the stone.

Chrysocolla - a blue-green colorless copper carbonate gemstone - is often mistaken for turquoise. With malachite, turquoise and azurite it sometimes forms the mixed gemstone Eilat stone, mined in King Solomon's mines and Israel's national stone. Theophrastus of Greece named it in 315 B.C. chrysos = gold and kola = glue, as ancient goldsmiths used it to solder gold. Chrysocolla inspired artists from Renaissance painters to modern jewelers. You can find it near large copper deposits in Africa, Mexico and Arizona, where it is called Apache chrysocolla.

Size:  1 1/2" x 1 1/8".

Silver chain not included. Shipment includes only pendant shown in pictures.