Specifications
Descripción
Locality: Algeria
Approximate size: 31.5 x 24.5 cm (12.5 x 9.5 in)
This one-of-a-kind desert rose from Algeria is a big, rambling cluster of sand-coloured blades stacked into dozens of overlapping rosettes, each one opening like the petals of a flower. The colour runs from pale peach to a warm rusty orange, and the rosettes crowd together so tightly that the piece reads as one sculptural mound, with deep pockets and a natural window right through the middle. It is a true display piece, best given a shelf or table of its own where light can fall across all those layered edges.
A desert rose is gypsum that grew inside damp desert sand. As salty groundwater rose and evaporated near the surface, gypsum crystallised in flat, bladed crystals that trapped sand grains between them, and the blades fanned out from shared centres to form the rosettes you see here. That trapped sand is what gives the stone its colour and its gritty, matte finish. The Algerian Sahara is one of the classic sources, and large, well-formed clusters like this one take a long time to grow and are hard to recover in one piece.
Gypsum is soft, only about 2 on the Mohs scale, so this is a piece to keep dry and dust gently with a soft brush rather than wash.
Chemical Composition: Gypsum, CaSO₄·2H₂O, with included sand
Mohs Hardness: 2
Treatment: Natural/None
Quantity: 1pc
With this product, you will receive the actual piece shown in the photographs. We do our best to offer quality products and price them honestly. Please keep in mind that colours and details may appear slightly different in person due to lighting, photography, and screen settings, but we do our best to represent each piece accurately.