Acanthite

Item Description

Here we have a wonderful, eye-catching Acanthite specimen from the famed Imiter Mine in Morocco. Several well-formed pseudo-octahedral crystals of a dark grey-black hue measuring up to 1.0 cm are associated with little sparkling Quartz crystals on matrix. Good matrix Acanthites are not terribly common from this mine, as most of them are loose groups with no matrix at all. These are much rarer on the market than they were 10-15 years ago, and good matrix pieces are certainly desirable, regardless of the locality. Valued $1,200.
PLEASE NOTE: There are some people that label these specimens (and Acanthite in general) as being pseudomorphs after Argentite, but they are technically paramorphs as Acanthite will actually transform into Argentite in an environment where the temperature reaches above 177° Celsius, but they are not pseudomorphs.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#256 Mo), a well-known German collector all over Europe with worldwide contacts to dealers and collectors. He started collecting seriously at the age of 14 and his great and varied worldwide collection reached over 6000 pieces. He was very active mineralogically until shortly before his passing in 2020 at the age of 82. Considering his collection had a large number of pieces, it still had an unusually high standard of quality from most worldwide localities. He particularly specialized in all classics as well as minerals of the Black Forest, where he spent much time collecting. His Black Forest and German subcollections went to his good friend Wolfgang Wendel. We at The Arkenstone have the privilege of offering the remainder of this great worldwide collection through our various platforms.