Rhodochrosite on Quartz

Item Description

A gorgeous large cabinet display specimen of the famous Rhodochrosites from the Sunnyside Mine. This locality (sometimes referred to as the "Standard Mine" by locals because it was once owned by Standard Metals) is a large group of smaller properties that dated back to the 1800s, which were all combined into what is now referred to as the Sunnyside Mine Group, though the majority of specimens you see on the market came from the Sunnyside proper. With that said, this mine was a significant gold producer for years, along with various base metals, but it's best known to collectors for it's beautiful Rhodochrosites. There are many different styles and grades of red/pink color to the Rhodos from the mine, unlike the Sweet Home, which really only produced simple rhombs, and this piece is a great example of the beautiful "rosette"-shaped groups which were found in the upper levels of the mine. This piece hosts many attractive, sparkling, light pink colored rhombic crystals, clustered together into "rosettes" measuring up to 6 mm across, which are covering the underlain white Quartz and sulfide matrix. Upon close inspection you can see that the tiny crystals have a slight curvature to them, which helps to emphasize the "flower"-like shape of the groups. No damage I can see, and it's just so pretty. Keep in mind that the Sunnyside was the premier locality for Rhodochrosite in Colorado for many years, before the Sweet Home was actually mined for specimens, starting in the 1970s with Rich Kosnar and later in the 1990s with Collector's Edge. Additionally, this piece was labeled as coming from the "American Tunnel", which wasn't really a specimen locality, it was truly just a tunnel that was driven to better mine the Sunnyside from below, and to the best of my knowledge, there were no Rhodochrosites that came out of this tunnel. The piece originally was part of the collection of C. P. Maier, who was the "auctioneer for the fundraising auction in Tucson for several years ca 1980" according to the label.
Valued $6,000-$7,500.
Ex George Loud Collection No. 14.1.1.4 CO.14; 8368. George (born August 16, 1942) is a well-known mineral collector from Washington, DC and South Carolina respectively, and was a patent lawyer by trade for over 50 years. He assembled one of the great mineral collections in the U.S., comprising worldwide specimens, and in later years he sold the worldwide specimens to focus on minerals of the United States, specifically locality suites with an emphasis on amazing representation of species while still maintaining fine quality. The specimens remarkably range from micros to all the way up to large cabinets in size. We recently acquired most of his impressive 9000+ piece collection, and the VAST majority of these pieces will be offered here in the auctions, as we feel that everyone deserves and equal opportunity at acquiring these important, well-documented and fine quality specimens for their collections.
See: https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/george-loud for more information