RHODOCHROSITE - PORCELAIN POCKET. ...

Description

RHODOCHROSITE - PORCELAIN POCKET
Porcelain Pocket, Fluorite Raise, Sweet Home Mine, Alma, Park Co., Colorado, USA
Operating an underground mine chiefly for specimens is one of the riskier business ventures one can indulge in. The Rhodochrosite recovery operations conducted by Bryan Lees at the Sweet Home Mine, probably represent the epitome of successful specimen mining. A significant number of world class specimens were carefully collected over the few years that the project was in operation. As each individual "pocket" was encountered, it was named and specimens were given unique inventory numbers, allowing owners to tell exactly where and when their specimen was recovered. The matrix Rhodochrosite specimen seen here was found in the Porcelain Pocket: a cavity reached via the Fluorite "Raise" - the mining term for an ascending shaft excavated from the bottom upwards. Larger than most Sweet Home Rhodochrosite specimens, the plate is liberally covered with well over 100 hot-pink to red, transparent rhombs. Scattered between the "Rhodo's" are a number of needle-like Quartz prisms and an occasional black pyramid of Tetrahedrite. The plate is in excellent condition with very minor "contact" to a couple of crystals. It measures a sizable 9 inches wide by 7 inches high by 2 ¾ inches thick. Comes with a custom acrylic base.

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