Verd antique
Type of green marble / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Verd antique (obsolete French, from Italian, verde antico, "ancient green"), also called verde antique, marmor thessalicum, or Ophite, is a serpentinite breccia[1] popular since ancient times as a decorative facing stone. It is a dark, dull green, white-mottled (or white-veined) serpentine, mixed with calcite, dolomite, or magnesite, which takes a high polish.[2] The term verd antique has been documented in English texts as early as 1745.[citation needed]
It is sometimes classed, erroneously, as a variety of marble ("Thessalian marble", "serpentine marble", "Moriah stone", etc.). It has also been called and marketed as "ophicalcite" or "ophite".[3]
Non-brecciated varieties of a very similar serpentinite, sometimes also called "verd antique", have been quarried at Victorville, California;[4] Cardiff, Maryland;[5] Holly Springs, Georgia;[6] and Rochester in Addison County, Vermont.[7]