Name: Rhodonite with Franklinite in Calcite
Brand: The Arkenstone
Price: 15000 USD
Availability: InStock

Rhodonite with Franklinite in Calcite

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A truly historic USA classic: lustrous and gemmy-to-translucent, this excellent, cherry-red rhodonite crystal is a substantial 3.2 cm long. It is a style found in the early days of the famous Franklin-Sterling Hill mining complex, from the 1800s, or early 1900s when this was still the Franklin Furnace Mine. Such crystals, especially isolated in gorgeous contrasting matrix, are only seen in museums today. This is a legendary USA classic. It is set within a matrix of granular, white calcite liberally sprinkled with subhedral crystals of Franklinite. Franklin is the TYPE LOCALITY for Franklinite, and is even more well-known as perhaps the world's greatest locality for fluorescent minerals, hence the intensely-bright orange fluorescence of the calcite. A choice specimen simply for the rhodonite, this small-cabinet piece is aesthetic, significant and very representative of this world-famous locality from its early years. We have only seen a handful of these for sale in decades. This piece was long in the collection of Mike Scott. Mike was the former CEO of Apple Computers, who notoriously fired Steve Jobs. He was also a dedicated mineral collector, a customer, and a supporter of the mineral sciences who amassed a large but esoteric collection in his lifetime. We recently obtained this specimen and others from the reserve collection of his fun minerals, within the larger mineral and gem estate. He purchased this in the 1990s from a previous collection.