Rhodochrosite (classic material)

Item Description

These beautiful Rhodochrosites from the famous late 1980s finds at the Capillitas Mine are worldwide classics. Their form and color are instantly recognizable and singular. This sculptural and impressive small cabinet of a translucent vein section is highlighted by the variable rich rose-red hues, striking banded and massive areas and crusts on either end of the piece. The piece GLOWS, when backlit. This would make excellent lapidary material, or simply an addition to a suite of worldwide Rhodochrosites. Specimen weight is 195 grams.
From the collection of Armon McPherson, a retired physicist, now living in New Mexico. Armon received his PhD from North Carolina State University in 1985, and worked at the laser laboratory at the University of Illinois at Circle Center. In the summer of 1997, Armon moved to the Argonne National Laboratory where he worked at the Advanced Photon Source, then the world’s largest synchrotron facility dedicated as an x-ray source. In 2001, he was asked to join a team at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque to conduct laser research for DARPA. Finally, staying within Sandia, he transferred to the Z Facility, the world’s most powerful x-ray facility. He retired in the spring of 2017. Armon's introduction to mineral collecting came in the 1980s during graduate school when he attended his first mineral show. He took up the hobby of faceting gems, and focused his early collection on gem crystals, and later transitioned into collecting non-gem species. We are proud to offer specimens from his worldwide mineral collection here for you.