RHODOCHROSITE. ...

Description

RHODOCHROSITE
Uchucchacua Mine, Oyon Province, Lima Department, Peru
It is hard to reconcile the rosy beauty of this large Rhodochrosite plate with the harsh almost lunar landscape of Uchucchacua: a Silver/Zinc mining camp situated between 14,000 and 16,000 feet up in the Peruvian Andes, where its story began. Never available in large numbers, the best of the Rhodochrosite from here looks very similar to material that South Africa produced in the 1980's: same crystal form - scalenohedral; same luster - brilliantly glassy; and same transparent, deep red color. In fact, it would be very easy to mistake this specimen for the South African material, except for the unique black matrix that surely identifies it as an Uchucchacua specimen. What is unusual about this specimen is that it is quite unlike others from this locality on a number of counts. Normally Uchucchacua Rhodochrosites occur as single crystals in small cavities in the dark rock typical of the place. Here we have a flat plate from a much larger, 'fissure' type cavity and the specimen is covered with an absolute horde of crystals up to 1 inch in length: large for the locality. With the minor exception of a couple of small crystals on one edge, the 70+ crystals are in excellent condition. In all seriousness, this is a very unusual and fine example of the best from this famous, remote locality. This excellent specimen measures 4 inches by 2 ¾ inches by 1 inch (10.2 x 7 x 2.5 cm). It has a custom "clutch base" as well as a custom labeled acrylic base.

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