SM22-44
Rhodochrosite with Apatite and Fluorite
Sweet Home Mine, Mount Bross, Park Co., Colorado, USA
Small Cabinet, 7.9 x 6.0 x 4.5 cm
SOLD

Ripe, strawberry-red crystals to 2 cm make this a sizable, color-busting specimen from the first view. The crystals have GREAT color and brightness to them. Sweet Home Mine arguably produced the finest rhodos in the world in the 1990s and this is from that era, as you can tell by the association of the apatite and fluorite crystals found in the late 1990s. Small apatites make a drapery over the rhodos, and a contrast in texture that is rare. The small purple fluorites are a nice accent, too! These examples now come out of old collections, and frankly at a price to you based on those older prices paid, as the modern pricing on contemporary material seems to be much more aggressive (admittedly, the current mining company has much higher overhead today, than in the 1990s, so higher prices are logical to pay the costs of mining). I feel these older specimens, therefore, to be not only distinct but fairly priced compared to what is otherwise available on the marketplace.