Azurite with Malachite

Item Description

Don't be fooled, this piece isn't from Bisbee, Arizona or the Liufengshan Mine in China, but rather the Rubtsovsk (Rubtsovskoe) Mine in Russia. The deep midnight blue color, combined with the gorgeous spherical formation of the Azurites is really eye-catching, and the drusy/sparkling luster on the surface is about as good as I've seen for the locality. I had to do a double take on this one, as I was truly impressed to see a piece of this quality from Russia, and I would have no problem believing it was from Bisbee or China. Minor green accenting Malachite can be seen for a nice touch. No major damage and fine quality all around. Valued $1,500.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#27 Ru ), 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.