Rhodochrosite with Tetrahedrite, Pyrite and Quartz

Item Description

This is a large and luscious, full-sized miniature specimen with unusually good combination of qualities for an old 1990s piece in this size range. It features a glassy, transparent, rich red-pink Rhodochrosite crystal pair from the Sweet Home Mine, one of the ultimate localities for the species. These great crystals measure 2.3 cm (about an inch) and 1.5 cm across the diagonal; and the big one is 1.3 cm thick. The crystals are completely transparent to translucent except for a couple, small slightly turbid areas within. The Rhodos erupt with a rich, classic color even without backlighting! In fact, most people will find that Sweet Home rhodochrosite looks at its best in somewhat reduced lighting, and particularly good in normal cheap overhead fluorescent lighting, with no fancy light required at all. The bounding faces and edges of the rhombohedrons are very sharp and have exceptional luster. They sit adroitly on a small plate of metallic Tetrahedrite crystals accompanied by a minute amount of brassy Pyrite and a few small Quartz crystals for a bonus to the contrast, composition and ultimate aesthetics. This has the special combination of color, sharpness, clarity, gemminess, and overall "vibrance" that immediately identifies it as a piece from the most famous zone of mining that produced the Good Luck Pocket in the mid 1990s. A small amount of minor fluorite seems to indicate it is from one of the pockets shortly after, perhaps in 1996-1997. This is as an exceptional miniature all around, and, importantly, without the usual minor restorations and fancy lab cleaning that makes so many of the specimens coming back to market today. It is from an old collection, simply cleaned lightly after discovery, and not over-prepped. This is, for a miniature, about as good as you can get (perhaps) for under $10,000 today, and often such finer pieces are priced much more highly at shows. It is not simply representative in quality, it is competitive.