Rhodizite (large crystal)

Item Description

In recent years, we've seen a good number of rare minerals coming out of Madagascar. I would say that Rhodizite is one of the more impressive species found in Madagascar in terms of crystal form, color and size. If you look at the entry for Rhodizite on mindat.org, you'll see that as of right now, there is only ONE confirmed locality for the species outside of Madagascar. The Russian and English localities have either been discredited or are in serious doubt. Before the discovery of Rhodizite in Madagascar, the largest known crystals were originally reported in Russia and they most only measured a few mm. Rhodizite is a rare gem mineral and is highly sought after by gem and mineral collectors alike. It forms a series with the fairly recently approved species Londonite with Rhodizite being the potassium end member. This is a great Rhodizite specimen featuring a notably large (4.3 cm across!) sharp, lustrous, blocky, yellow color crystal measuring on dark Smoky Quartz and Feldspar matrix. There is a secondary crystal group on the piece, that would be considered very good sized for the species, were it not for the monstrous crystal on the other end. Now I need to point out that the piece has damage, and the main crystal is contacted right in the center, so it's not pristine. This is really more of a reference specimen, but it's still kind of a "bragging rights" rock, as you never see Rhodizite crystals of this size, and now that nothing new has been found in recent years, these are becoming very difficult to find on the market. From the collection of Colin Manlove.