Beryl var: Aquamarine with Kesterite (RARE combo for the locality)

Item Description

This piece dates back to the early 2000s, and is one of the VERY few examples of Beryl with Kësterite that we've had to offer from this famed locality in the northeastern corner of the Sichuan Province of China. This piece hosts a glassy and rather gemmy, unusually tabular crystal of Beryl var: Aquamarine measuring 2.5 cm, sitting on beige Muscovite, but it's associated with a 9 mm, dark grey metallic crystal of Kësterite, a rare coper zinc tin sulfosalt (and a member of the Stannite Group) with a very minute coating of light green Mushistonite on matrix. I have only seen a handful of Beryl with Kësterite from this locality, and typically the Kësterite crystals are almost 100% coated by Mushistonite, so to find a specimen where the Kësterite is largely uncovered makes the piece even more enticing. While I'm sure most of you are familiar with these Beryl crystals, it's important to note for the unitiated that the compressed tabular habit is very rarely seen in the species (outside of Morganite), and their distinctive appearance is almost synonymous with this locality. A really cool association piece that is almost impossible to find for sale on the market today. I value this one highly for its quality, aesthetics and frankly its rarity. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#93 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. WWe at The Arkenstone have the privilege of offering the remainder of this great worldwide collection over the coming months and years through our various platforms.