Rhodochrosite on Rhodochrosite

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A significant example of a rare old style of Rhodochrosite found around 1978-1980 in the manganese fields of the Kalahari. At the time, these electrified the mineral world and there was a literal stampede of dealers looking to buy them and bring back to the USA. Some were retrieved and some got away. This piece is particularly unusual for the vivid pink, glistening, stepped, mushroom like growth hillocks of layered rhodochrosite with clusters reaching 1.5 cm in size . They sit atop an earlier generation of light pink rhodochrosite that is somewhat vuggy underneath, showing generations of layered growth. It is all deposited on massive, black-gray manganite ore matrix on the back that has a sawn surface. Specimens like this only recycle to the market as the larger collections, like Jack Halpern's, come up for sale. Although not the most common or famous style, that perhaps makes this all the more interesting as it is certainly more uncommon to see in a collection and ...it is big, red, and pretty!