Baryte

Item Description

While Fluorites are typically the main focus for collectors when it comes to minerals of Southern Illinois, the Barytes from this area are diverse in their styles and habits, and rather attractive. This piece is an attractive near "floater" group composed of several "rose"-shaped crystals with a flat tabular habit, showing a pale golden-beige hue on one side, with a slightly "frosted" appearance on the front. The largest crystal measures 2.6 cm across. No matrix to be seen, as the underside is a somewhat hollow "cast", where presumably another mineral once existed that was dissolved away. A really eye-catching piece that would make a nice addition to any Baryte collection or a Southern Illinois suite.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl, 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.