Table Box Malachite with Hinged Sterling Silver Salimbeni

Description

Table Box Malachite

Table Box Malachite Large rectangular  with hinged frame in 925/1000 sterling Silver gold plated. The malachite is a large single whole slab on the lid and the stone design becomes continuous on the sides. The interior is onyx from Pakistan. Dimensions cm. 17 x 22 x 5. Silver weight gr. 220. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1973 and manufactured in Florence in a single example of this size, in the headquarters of the Salimbeni Company with completely manual execution by skilled artisan artists both for the working of metal and semi-precious stone. Malachite Malachite is well known and fascinating: semi-precious stone that has always been it is combined with silver or gold allowing the creation of objects of extreme beauty. But what is malachite and how is it formed? Malachite is petrified wood in environments saturated with copper oxide. This is what has happened to forests over the millennia which were located around large copper deposits located in Russia, Africa, the United States United States, Chile and Australia. This is why malachite can have different types of ribs, more smooth and elongated in the stem, more rounded and curled in the root. For an interesting comparison think of Briar. Once the extraction of malachite was a side activity compared to the main one of the copper mining and was often done with sledgehammers and pickaxes. This made it possible to extract large blocks which then come down to us through trade in the hands of stonecutters who then in turn supplied the goldsmith’s work. Then over time the use of explosives for copper mining led to an excess crushing, so much so that malachite arrived on the market in the 80s much smaller pieces. To overcome this problem, we made deals with the stone cutters immediately alerting us when a large piece arrived. Often when a very important object was ordered, we produced it in several copies so that the delivery was always perfect.