JC03 Rhodochrosite
Osarizawa mine, Kazuno City, Akita Prefecture, Japan
11.5x 6.7x 6.0 cm
$2400
A very rare large cabinet sized example of *crystalized* rhodochrosite from one of the rarer rhodo localities in Japan. To begin with, there has been almost no new Japanese rhodochrosite collected in approximately 40 years, so the material has never been particularly abundant-- but almost all of the rhodochrosite seen on the market comes from Oppu. The Oppu pieces and to be botryoidal, and almost never exhibit crystals. Pieces from Osarizawa are considerably rarer-- in fact, the mine was only operational from 1936 to 1965. Pieces from this locality are notable for usually being crystalline, and sometimes even have a bit of translucency (like this one!). This is a particularly rich example (and quite sizeble at that!) with the display face entirely covered with small rhombs-- some to about 1 cm.
A video can be seen here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDzhQS9PONX/
