January 24 Through February 4—TUCSON, ARIZONA: Annual show
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 Post subject: RHODONITE VS FOWLERITE
PostPosted: Wed Mar 15, 2023 4:21 am 
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I’ve been doing some research and have hit a wall. Perhaps one of our esteemed experts can please weigh in….

Is Fowlerite ever found in any transparent, or even translucent form, or is it opaque only? If I understand correctly Fowlerite is the pale pink version of Rhodonite, but I seem to only ever see it in the opaque, literal stone/bead, variety. Or am I reading into it wrong? Is Fowlerite a trade/marketing name?

And since we’re on the topic, is there a shortage of faceted gem grade Rhodonite on the market?? Is Rhodonite just that exotic of a material, as I have seen little to none available at recent shows and on the old interwebs? It could be I’m just looking in the wrong places, as it seems that lesser known faceted stones in general are rather difficult to track down from anyone in any meaningful quantities.

I’m still wading into all this after a good decade away and no longer have any records of my old vendors and sources.


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 Post subject: Re: RHODONITE VS FOWLERITE
PostPosted: Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:59 am 
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Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:31 pm
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Location: North Carolina
Fowlerite looks to be something of a trade name, though there's apparently been a bit of argument it might represent its own endmember. If you look at the mindat page you'll see some nicely formed crystals of it from Franklin, certainly suggesting a facetable stone would be theoretically possible.
That said facet grade rhodonite has always been very uncommon and clean stones are rarely cut. I have bought smaller clear crystals from Brazilian dealers at Tucson in the past but I didn't see much this year (though I barely got to explore).

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