Rhodochrosite (ex Dr. William Logan Collection)

Item Description

You'll have a hard time finding many Rhodochrosite specimens from the Manuelita Mine on the market these days. The majority of the good pieces were mined in the early 1990s. Here we have a lovely small cabinet display specimen that features many very sharp, translucent, rich pink colored crystals of Rhodochrosite free of matrix. The piece is essentially a solid crystallized group of Rhodochrosite, and the brownish zones are either iron-bearing Rhodochrosite or possibly manganese-bearing Siderite depending upon the chemistry. My favorite aspect of the piece is that habit of the Rhodochrosite crystals which have an unusual rarely seen triangular / trigonal shape, not rhombic or specifically scalenohedral. The largest crystal measures 4 mm on edge. The color is really pleasing to the eye, and the moderate amount of translucency allows them to light up when backlighting, but they're not necessarily gemmy. The periphery edges of the specimen are contacted where the piece was removed from the pocket wall, but the main crystallized area is in very good shape. Valued at $750 retail. A great piece to add to any Rhodochrosite suite or a collection of Peruvian rocks. From the worldwide Rhodochrosite collection of Dr. William S. Logan (Specimen #X65).