Rhodochrosite

Unknown Owner

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A stunning cherry red rhodo from the early 1980s finds at N'Chwaning! This is a trim off a larger specimen which was in the Sorbonne collections, until exchanged to me last year. The crystals measure to 1 cm, and are a deep, gemmy wine red. Here and there you can see a druse of sparkly microcrystals of manganese on the back faces which is a nice accent, and shows off a bit of the ore that was the main purpose of the mining in this district. The crystals have fine glassy luster. It is very hard to get these in ANY condition these days!! This piece has several cleaved crystals on the display face - a sadly common problem in the material when it turns up. Most have some damage, and it just goes with the territory.