Detailed information
Species
Rhodochrosite, Native Copper
Dimensions
30 x 87 x 55
mm
Weight
138 g
Locality
Wolf Mine Herdorf, Siegerland Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Condition
No recorded repairs
Wolf mine at Herdorf in Siegerland, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany is one of the most important localities for Rhodochrosite in Europe. Specimens from there are very distinctive, with a much more orange-red, rather than pink colour, and are much sought after, having only been available when this iron mine was operating, and it closed in 1962. This rich small cabinet-sized specimen features many Rhodochrosite crystals lining cavities within an orange iron-rich limonitic host rock, but is accompanied by many small sprigs of tarnished Native Copper which is an exceptionally rare association. The Rhodochrosite crystals form seed-like and rounded 'scaly' aggregates, the later being referred to historically as "raspberry spar".