Bismuthinite (fine crystals) (rare locality)

Item Description

A fantastic display specimen of the rarely seen Bismuthinites from the Biggenden Mine in Queensland, Australia. Typically this bismuth sulfide mineral is seen in fairly thin/acicular crystals, but the crystals from the Biggenden Mine are notably thicker with excellent, euhedral form. This piece hosts many fine quality, sharp, lustrous, metallic, silvery colored prismatic crystals measuring up to about 1.7 cm long, sitting on matrix. The crystals appear to have been etched out of Calcite, as I can see a tiny bit remaining when viewed up close. My favorite aspect of the piece is that most of the crystals are actually terminated, so they're not just partial prisms, but complete crystals, showing excellent orthorhombic form. It's one of the few examples of this material that we've had to offer in the auctions, and honestly I would say it's the best one we've had to offer. A fantastic example from a mine that dates back to the 1880s, but seldom yielded pieces of this quality.
Valued $2,000.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#367 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 foreseeable future through our various platforms.