Baryte on Fluorite (fluorescent)

Item Description

Here we have a wonderful, showy and robust cabinet sized specimen from the famous Xiefang Mine in Jiangxi, China. This mine has certainly produced some of the finest crystals of Baryte from any locality in the country, but it also has produced some excellent Fluorites as well. This piece features beautiful rows of slightly staggered growth blades of soft golden colored Baryte that are flowing over the top of a group of silvery-blue colored, sharp gemmy cubic Fluorites on Quartz matrix. The individual Baryte crystals are hard to isolate and measure on their own, but I can say that the largest Fluorite cube measures 1.8 cm on edge. The Baryte blades almost remind me of the plates on the back of a stegosaurus, though more numerous and tightly packed together. I can't remember seeing a piece with this specific style from this mine, and it looks beautiful in person. The piece is in great shape all around, with no major damage that I can find (there are a few minor bruises to some of the Barytes) but it does have a saw mark on the bottom where it was trimmed down into its current size. The saw mark allows the piece to sit beautifully on its own without a base or clay, and the positioning of the Barytes is at the optimal point atop the specimen. The piece shows good fluorescence under LW UV light. Valued $2,000-$2,500.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#592 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 for the coming months/years through our various platforms.