Rhodochrosite with Quartz ps. Fluorite - image 1

Rhodochrosite with Quartz ps. Fluorite - image 2

Rhodochrosite with Quartz ps. Fluorite

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This lovely miniature has unique aesthetics and contrasts; and originates from the well known Porcelain Pocket which was brought to market in the year 2000 by the mining company that ran the operation at the time. It features a gorgeous, cherry-red rhodochrosite crystal right in the center of this attractively composed miniature that 2.3 cm across the diagonal face. The perfectly formed rhombohedron has great luster and is transparent so you can see through it to the matrix. It is of superb quality and this is an old time specimen from back in the day, so to speak, when minimal specimen prep and little restoration was being done on these - so it is natural and almost perfect. There is only one barely perceptible, internal cleavage trace in the crystal that would improve in modern lab treatments but this already is pristine, sharp, gemmy, and has great cherry color! There are several smaller, adjacent, cherry-red rhodochrosites to either side of the larger one that vary in size between 2 mm and 1.1 cm that have similar color and characteristics. The rhodochrosites are set on a matrix of tiny (1 to 2 mm) pyrite and tetrahedrite crystals along with a with an unusual white crystal which makes for great composition and balance. This is a super attractive combination piece that packs a lot of color and diversity in a miniature specimen! However, about that unusual white crystal: a sharp, translucent white dodecahedron with lavender fluorite cubes visible from one side....this is a fluorite cluster (1 cm across) that has been mostly pseudomorphed (replaced) by quartz. You can see the lavender fluorite peering out of some of the side, though. Back in the late 1990s when we had some of these quartz/fluorite-hybrid specimens, we had heard alternative theories: that the white is either a pseudomorph in full or part; or that the white is inclusions of quartz within colorless fluorite, deposited in some unusual direction-oriented effect. Nevertheless, the result is really shockingly stark. These are very rare - even when they came out. Another example, more fully replaced/pseudomorphed, can be seen in one of our past auctions: https://www.mineralauctions.com/items/quartz-after-fluorite-rhodochrosite-on-tetrahedrite-rare-41075.