Rhodochrosite (rare locale) (ex Dave Bergman Collection)

Item Description

There are thousands of localities for Rhodochrosite around the world, but we RARELY get our hands on these beautiful pieces from the lesser known Moanda Mine in Gabon, dating back to the 1970s. This small cabinet display specimen hosts dozens of bBeautiful, sharp, lustrous, gemmy, rich red colored scalenohedra measuring up to about 4 mm sitting on underlying manganese bearing matrix. You can draw similarities in the style of the piece to specimens from South Africa or Peru, but it's still distinctive enough that you know it's from the Moanda Mine. You NEVER see these on the market anymore, and any comprehensive Rhodochrosite collection needs to have one of these pieces in it. Good quality and very attractive up close. Priced at $2,000 in the inventory. From the collection of Colorado mining legend, Dave Bergman who acquired the piece from his son-in-law Richard Kosnar, whose hand-written label accompanies the specimen. Dave is now retired, but among other things, he was the foreman and primary person in charge of recovering specimens at the famous Sweet Home Mine near Alma, Colorado during the late 1970s. He is also the maternal grandfather of Brian Kosnar. See Dave's photo mining at the Sweet Home on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures".