Rhodochrosite on Quartz with Sphalerite

The Champion Mine is well known to Colorado collectors, but specimens are seldom available on the market. This piece features several sharp, well-formed, lustrous, translucent, vivid pink color, compressed rhombohedra of Rhodochrosite forming semi-"rosette"-shaped groups sitting on contrasting white Quartz and black Sphalerite matrix with small bits of Pyrite sprinkled here and there. This is a showy display specimen from this hard-to-find locality in southwestern Colorado. The largest Rhodo measures about 7 mm, and they are beautiful up close.

It's hard to find cabinet sized specimens like this from the Champion Mine, and it appears that every Rhodo rhomb is undamaged to boot! I put a lot of value into this one for quality, color and the fact that they just aren't seen in today's market. From the collection of my maternal grandfather, Dave Bergman. Grandpa Dave was a Colorado miner and was the foreman and primary person in charge of recovering specimens at the famous Sweet Home Mine near Alma, Colorado during the late 1970s with my dad. You can see his photo mining at the Sweet Home on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures".

Ex. Dave Bergman collection

Specimen # WWMIX111902