Baryte "rose" (classic locale)

Item Description

This Tertiary sandstone quarry is well-known for sand-included barite "roses", but specimens are seldom on the market. This is an exceptional, pristine, two-sided floater "rose" with superb form. The striking ribbon and clusters of sand grains with limonite on both sides are superlative accessories to this sculptural cutie. It reminds me of the famous red sandstone barite "roses" from Oklahoma, but this one has much finer detail. Analyses of Hofmann (1970) have shown the the roses contain more quartz (sand)~ 50 % than baryte ~ 42 % (MINDAT).