PERU!

A very striking piece.  I have applied a UV blocking coating, it is nearly invisible, though a good idea for this type of material.

There are really only 4 localities form which you can (have a  reasonable chance of) find(ing) good rhodonite: Chiuruc (where this one is from), Conselheiro Lafaiete in Brazil (the most recent find), Broken Hill, Australia, and the old pieces from New Jersey. 

On my first trip to Peru I had the opportunity to visit the area-- the trip to the nearest town (Miraflores) involved a very "interesting" mountain drive in poor lighting, and at the time, the next largest town (Llata) only had a $5 a night hotel where my room number was indicated by the number on the billiard ball key ring.  Seriously though, that's why I love this.  If I have anything to complain about, it would be that the bumps in that road out of Miraflores posed excessive danger to the well being of my newly purchased (and very fragile) barites.....

This one has a nice patina-- I saw a couple unprepared ones-- they are basically just masses of copper in some chalky material that has turned green from copper leaching through it.  This one must have been cleaner to begin with, because the copper has a patina-- those completely encased in the chalky material that they are etched out of show the high luster that is a telltale sign of acid exposure.

For the sake of comparison, I purchased a group of these about 3 years ago when the find was fresh-- the largest crystal was about 1 inch.  If you are a garnet collector, you might want to consider this one....

But back to this (more humble) piece-- there is damage (as shown) though there are also angles that nearly totally hide its appearance.  

For the collector of tourmalines (not the gem-only people) or Peruvian minerals, this is probably something that would be a novelty.  When I saw it in Peru, my first question was if someone had gifted them a piece from Pakistan... 

A nicely isolated octahedral pyrite crystals on a pyrite matrix, from Huanzala.  Pyrite has been known form this locality for decades, and I would consider this to be one of the most (if not the most) prolific mine in the world, in terms of the sheer tonnage of specimens produced.  For the last several years however, very little material of good quality has escaped-- over 5 trips to Peru, only this trip and the first yielded what I would consider to be good pieces from Huanzala, all the pyrites I brought back in between were from Racracancha.  

There is one place where the crystal appears to have grown up against another one.  This is most visible in the image directly below the description, on the right side.  There are a couple different angles from which you could display this one.

This was one piece from a medium sized lot that I purchased.  As the person who sold them to me put it-- the group this belonged to was selected from "many tons" of specimens, and judging from what I usually see, I am inclined to believe him.  It is never difficult to buy pyrite in Peru, but finding good pieces is another story entirely-- the combination of "heavy" and "brittle" does not make it easy.

This thumbnail has unusually deep color, and again, a more hefty appearance than most others in the same size range.

This one was hard to photograph-- somehow it takes on a more 2D appearance in the pictures.  But again, this is a really really good thumbnail of this species-- certainly the best I have seen so far (that I can remember...).

The main crystals are all intact, though a couple of the peripheral ones have contacts (I mean, it had to be extracted somehow...)  This is an excellent (and very beautiful) piece-- the ones with quartz always seem to be the most sought after, though unfortunately they are considerably less common. 

The crystal is very well exposed, and a cut above the more plentiful Mundo Nuevo pieces that hit the market a few years back.  The ferberite crystal is thicker, has better color, and the quartz adds to the specimen's appearance, rather than hiding the focus of the specimen-- if you've seen the Mundo Nuevo material, you'll know what I mean.

Off the top of my head, the only other localities I can think of that produce(d) good orpiment are the Twin Creeks Mine in Nevada (no longer producing specimens) and the place in China-- though those Chinese examples don't even come close in terms of quality.

There are a couple chips, made more noticeable by the high luster.  Still, a good example from the mine.  For the last several years, very little material of good or even decent quality has escaped-- over 5 trips to Peru, only this trip and the first yielded what I would consider to be good pieces from Huanzala, all the pyrites I brought back in between were from Racracancha.  

  

Perhaps more interesting is the underside-- you can see the white rock matrix coated with a thin layer of dark arsenic, and separated from the orpiment by another layer of an unidentified (presumably arsenic rich) mineral.

Minor scuffing, much much better than the average.

Contacted on the back, but displays as shown.

There are really only 4 localities form which you can (have a  reasonable chance of) find(ing) good rhodonite: Chiuruc (where this one is from), Conselheiro Lafaiete in Brazil (the most recent find), Broken Hill, Australia, and the old pieces from New Jersey. 

There are really only 4 localities form which you can (have a  reasonable chance of) find(ing) good rhodonite: Chiuruc (where this one is from), Conselheiro Lafaiete in Brazil (the most recent find), Broken Hill, Australia, and the old pieces from New Jersey. 

I have applied a nearly invisible UV blocker.