Pyrolusite (ex Francesco Bedogne Collection)

Item Description

This piece camed labeled as coming from "Molango, Mexico". The town of Molango (officially Molango de Escamilla ) is one of the municipalities of Hidalgo, in central-eastern Mexico, but I can't find any record of Pyrolusite occuring there. The label also refers to the piece as "Polianite", which is a variety of Pyrolusite that has pseudomorphed after Manganite. I can't say for sure if this piece is a pseudomorph or not, but we'll leave it labeled as Pyrolusite. Prismatic, silvery-black crystals measuring up to 5 mm can be seen all over the display side of this mysterious specimen from Mexico. From the worldwide collection of famed Italian mineral collector, field collector and author, Francesco Bedogne of Sondrio, Italy (Collection #702). Bedogne wrote dozens of articles and several books about the mineralogy of Italian Alpine localities such as Val Bregaglia, Val Masino, Val Codera, Val Spluga, Valtellina and the famous Val Malenco. He was also the founder of the Valtellinese Mineralogical Institute.