Acanthite on Wire Silver on matrix

Item Description

This a wonderfully aesthetic and eye-catching specimen from Imiter. This piece features a dramatic combination of thin Native Silver "wires", which are partially overgrown by dark, grey, well-formed pseudo-octahedral crystals of Acanthite which are flaring off matrix to create a very showy and fine quality large thumbnail display piece. I would like to point out that this piece has a LOT of character for an Imiter Silver/Acanthite, as it's very three-dimensional and showy, and is virtually undamaged. It's important to note that some people 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 degrees Celsius, but they are not pseudomorphs. A wonderful piece of this classic and now rarely seen material. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#255 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 over the next two to three years through our various platforms.