Allophane (strong color)

Item Description

This piece is designated as only coming from "Yunnan, China", and while it's likely from the Laochang Ore Field, it could also be from Wenshan, so it's hard to say for certain. What is known is that this is about as rich of a blue color as we've seen from any Allophane specimen from China. This miniature sized piece is filled with intense blue colored (copper-bearing) botryoidal groups of Allophane, covering the front/display side of the light porous matrix. No major damage and that color just screams at you from across a room. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#258 C), 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.