Exhibit Room C: Francis R. Bradford Sphere Collection

Francis Robert Bradford

Case A: Brecciated Jasper // Jasper is an opaque type of Chalcedony (a finely crystalline form of silica composed of quartz and moganite) that can be found in many locations around the world. Jasper is most commonly thought of as red or brown, but can feature many colors including green, yellow, Black, and rarely blue. It is almost always multicolored with different patterns resulting from how the silica consolidated during its formation. Breccia refers to a process when large, broken, and/or angular fragments of rock and mineral accumulate and form a sedimentary rock of large fragments cemented together with smaller particles and mineral cement.

Case A: Mozarkite // Mozarkite is the official state rock of Missouri, adopted in 1967, and it is only found around Benton County, Missouri. It is a type of sedimentary rock known as a chert that typically appears as red, pink, or purple. The name combines the state’s abbreviation “MO” with “Ozark,” a region that covers much of the state (The Ozark Mountains and Ozark Plateau). The suffix “ite” means “of or pertaining to.”

Case A: Ruby Zoisite // Also known as “ruby in zoisite” and Anyolite. Ruby Zoisite consists of green zoisite with red ruby crystals and Black crystals of the hornblende, tschermakite. Zoisite is formed when metamorphic and sedimentary rocks undergo the process of metamorphism (change caused by fluids passing through the rock) and hydrothermal alteration (when change is caused by hot water which alters minerals and forms veins). This mineral was first discovered in the district of Longido in Tanzania by Tom Blevins in the 1940s and it can also be found in India and Zambia.

Case A: Binghamite, Hematite // Binghamite is a type of agate quartz only found on the Cuyuna Range in Minnesota near deposits of iron ore. It typically has fibers of goethite or hematite, like this sphere, and looks red, gold, and Black. Hematite is an iron oxide that is very abundant all over the globe and is the most important iron ore. Binghamite was named after William Bingham who discovered it in 1936.

Case A: Wonderstone // Wonderstone is a “tuff,” or a type of igneous rock that forms after a volcanic eruption as ejected rock, ash, and other materials fall back to the ground and cement into new rock. The various bands of wonderstone are created when dissolved minerals in ground water flow through the rock and stain it different colors.

Case A: Hickoryite // Hickoryite is a type of Rhyolite, a high-silica rock formed from eruptions of granitic magma, which are rare. Hickoryite is from Rodeo, in the State of Durango, Mexico and has red, pink, and yellow bands. The name comes from its resemblance to hickory wood.