FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[John Cornish]

Hi Bill and All,

First off, again, congratulations on your fine book, what a wonderful accomplishment!

It was great to see you in Tucson and to share the geode with you. After, Bob Downs at the U. of A. performed an analysis using Raman Spectroscopy and sadly and shockingly, the blood-red crystals within my geode all proved to be calcite with a trace amount of manganese.

Needless to say I was disappointed (as were several others). So, rhodochrosite from Las Choyas... not yet.

As a side note, in Tucson, it was mentioned that there is a "lost" locality in Colorado where at least 2 geodes containing euhedral rhodochrosite were recovered. Specimens are represented in the collections of Bryan Lees and Dave Bunk.

John

[Charlotte]

Thanks, John. I appreciate the kind words.

What a shame about the geode. It would have been a world-beater. Needed to be confirmed though, obviously. I share your disappointment having just disproved (another) Tsumeb Rhodo. Sigh....

Yes I'm aware of the Rhodo geodes that Bryan and Dave have, though I haven't seen them. AND I have commissioned a search, hopefully this summer, for the "lost" locality. An experienced Colorado prospector has agreed to search for it based on some "clues" he has. He is confident but that's all I can divulge.

When I get a hold of all of those Rhodo geodes I'm expecting, I'll be sure you get one ;-)
Bill