Rhodochrosite on Quartz (ex Gary Weaver Collection)

Item Description

The famous Sunnyside Mine in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado has produced some very well known Rhodochrosite specimens, which are only second behind the Rhodos from the Sweet Home Mine. This wonderful cabinet piece hosts small attractive, soft pink colored "balls" Rhodochrosite which are actually composite groups of tighlyt intergrown rhombs sitting on a plate of crystallized milky Quartz with minor mixed sulfides. The largest Rhodochrosite "ball" measures about 6 mm across. I love how beautifully isolated the "balls" are from one another, giving the piece balance and character. An eye-catching specimen for any collector of Rhodochrosites or specimens from Colorado from this well known mine in southwestern Colorado. The piece comes with a label from the Rutgers University Geology Museum along with another stating that it was found in the the "American Tunnel Mine", but that's a generic term that people used for specimens that came out of the Sunnyside Mine. No actualy mining took place in the American Tunnel, it was simply a tunnel used to move ore out of the Sunnyside. From the collection of Gary Weaver of Prescott, Arizona (1944-2019). Gary was an electrical engineer who worked for many years for Hughes Aircraft in California. You can read Gary's obituary here https://www.dcourier.com/news/2019/apr/27/obituary-gary-richard-weaver/. Valued at $1,200.