Rhodochrosite

Unknown Owner

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This special piece is from a small, unique pocket which apparently consisted of only under a dozen specimens. The crystals look like thin sandwiches of red jelly in between red crackers. It is so different in style and luster from the other rhodo pockets at the famous Wutong Mine, that my first thought was that it was from a new locality. When I saw it, it was in a dealer's private collection and broken out for sale at the Shanghai show in April 2012. By then, I was told, the others had been gone and sold the previous fall (all within China, apparently). Emplaced on a thin crust of quartz is a flower-like cluster of aesthetic, intergrown, tabular, lustrous and translucent, rich pink rhodochrosite crystals/ They form disclike rhombohedrons to 4 cm across. A few glassy and gemmy, colorless quartz crystals, to 2.1 cm in length, are perched on one side of the rhodo cluster for a nice accent. This is a superb small cabinet-sized China specimen, so unlike all the others we have seen in a flood of supply from this mine over the last few years. Beyond its beauty and unique style, it happens to be afine piece in terms of quality, complete all around and highly aesthetic.