Rhodochrosite (rare crystals for the locality)

Item Description

Everybody is familiar with the world classic Rhodochrosite specimens that are found in Argentina. These pieces often shows intense and brilliant red and pink colors, but most of what is mined is honestly uncrystallized, concentratic banded / stalactitic masses, so they don't make great specimens. These pieces are often cut and polished to reveal the beautiful internal patterns, which are very popular with collectors and dealers alike. Now when it comes to CRYSTALLIZED specimens from from this mine, that's another story. They are incredibly hard to find in my experience. This wonderful hefty cabinet display specimen is loaded with hundreds of gorgeous pink color, sharp, fairly lustrous defined rhombohedra of Rhodochrosite which have formed crystallized on the exterior layer, but if you look on the side of the piece, you can see it does show a bit on banded growth with dark brown / black Sphalerite (?) in the center. Overall the piece is in very good shape, though it is contacted in areas. You can see all of the fine Rhodochrosite crystals on virtually every side, which measure up to 7 mm. Very rare on the market, and a MUST HAVE for anybody who collects worldwide Rhodochrosite as it is nearly impossible to obtain from anything like this from any Argentine locality. Valued at $1,200 in the inventory.