Rhodochrosite with Stilbite and Chalcopyrite

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The various ore bodies in southern Bulgaria have produced many memorable sulfide and carbonate specimens, and even though the Rhodochrosite from this area is not world-class, it is the only locality that I know of where Rhodochrosite occurs with Stilbite. The large, rich pink mound of Rhodochrosite is composed of numerous, tightly aggregated, low-profile botryoids made up of tiny, less than 0.5 mm bladed crystals of Rhodochrosite in small rosettes. The Stilbite crystals scattered on the Rhodochrosite are concentrated largely on one end of the pice and constitute clusters of ivory colored, lustrous, lightly striated, 2 to 6 mm bladed crystals in groups or singles intergrown with a few dozen, 2 to 4 mm brassy metallic Chalcopyrite crystals. Although the Stilbites are rather small, the fact that they are sitting atop Rhodochrosite makes the piece all the more interesting, and this is only one of a few pieces of this material that I have seen where Rhodochrosite and Stilbite occur together on the same specimen.There is an isolated 1 cm Chalcopyrite on the backside of the piece and the bottom of the specimen reveals that the all of the aforementioned minerals were deposited on orange-brown Sphalerite and some Galena. Ex. William Logan Rhodochrosite collection.