Rhodochrosite (old classic circa 1960s or 1970s) ex Kay Robertson Coll.

Item Description

SATURATED cherry-red, translucent, tapered flattened nailhead rhodochrosite rhombs compose this solid curving plate from this famous old mine of the Kalahari manganese field! The curved piece has a beautifully display face with an unusually lustrous surface. The piece really lights up, when back lit! This is dense and thick carving-grade rhodo. Classic and excellent Hotazel Mine rhodo from the 1960s or early 1970s. This "shield form" of thick botryoidal growth is a very uncommon varietal from this mine and dates before the superb scalenohedral rhodos from the N'Chwaning I Mine in the late 1970s. This piece could easily go on any shelf at a major show, and would have a spotlight behind it to make it glow and be seen from across the room. Ex Kay Robertson Collection # 8461 and purchased from dealer Mike Ridding at the 1978 Tucson Show. Kay is a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics (see the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record).