A very unusual rhodochrosite, from a find made in the mid 1990"s. Botryoidal rhodochrosite is known from a few places, particularly a few long closed localities in Germany and Japan.  Where these differ most however, is in the depth of the red color.  More often than not, botryoidal rhodochrosite tends to be a very light pink. At Ushkatyn, it is nearly maroon.  Actually, I cannot think of another location that has quite this color of rhodochrosite, be it crystalline or botryoidal.

 There is some edge wear, but given the condition that these are usually in, this one is in pretty good shape.  The the Russians tended to treat this stuff as lapidary material, so specimens would get thrown together, and often times destroyed.  That is how these specimens were kept, and i searched to find the examples that were best suitable for specimens.

This piece survived pretty well, displaying the botryoidal form and a nice pearly luster.

This interesting material is not often available, and while I don"t expect them to sell particularly quickly, they were just too cool to pass up.