Rhodochrosite & Fluorite on Quartz (Sweet Home Mine, CO)
Rhodochrosite & Fluorite on Quartz (Sweet Home Mine, CO)
Tool Cut Rhodochrosite & Fluorite on Quartz
Excavated from the Sweet Home Mine
Alma, CO
Approx. 3” x 2” x 1”
This Sweet Home Mine specimen includes Several Rhodochrosite crystals seated on quartz and fluorite. This specimen was tool cut from the mine wall.
The Sweet Home Mine in Alma, Colorado was originally discovered and developed in 1873 as silver mine. It was never very productive as far as silver goes, although it did become known for its world class, ruby red rhodochrosite crystals.
Over the years, Sweet Home Mine rhodochrosite specimens, such as this one, became recognized as the finest rhodochrosite mineral specimens in the world. The mine eventually closed in 1967, but was later reopened in 1991 specifically to mine rhodochrosite. This led to the discovery of several of the most famous and finest specimens, the “Alma King” and the “Crystal Wall”, both of which are currently on display in the Denver Museum of Natural History.
