Detailed information
Species
Rhodochrosite
Dimensions
10 x 22 x 12
mm
Weight
3 g
Locality
N'Chwaning Mines Kuruman, Kalahari Mn. Field N. Cape Province, South Africa
Condition
NET
Never plentiful, there was a time during the 1960s and 1970s, when this form of Rhodochrosite was discovered in the N'Chwaning manganese mines in the Kalahari Manganese Field in South Africa and dazzled the mineralogical world with its wonder. An icon of South African mineralogy, this 'dog-tooth', or scalenohedral habit of gemmy, intensely strawberry-red Rhodochrosite, is simply never seen elsewhere in the same quality, with a few mines in Peru having produced paler, smaller crystals, but never in the same league. This 2.2 cm tall individual, off-matrix crystal is admittedly cleaved very slightly across its termination, otherwise it would command four figures very easily. However, it has fine overall shape and has significant value in its gem quality, with many crystals in the early days of discovery sent for cutting. Its base is rough where it was formerly attached to other similar crystals, but it does also show some scalenohedral faces tapering downwards as well as up. With daylight behind it, its colour shifts to an orange-red, but with a darker background it becomes far redder. This is a lovely single crystal of Rhodochrosite, the like of which are now getting hard to obtain.