Bournonite (classic material)

Item Description

The beautiful and distinctive Bournonite specimens from this ancient iron mine, which was abandoned in 1965, are German classics. This full sized cabinet specimen is loaded with top-notch, bladed, pseudo-tetrahedral-shaped (almost imitating Tetrahedrite), lustrous, metallic-gray, Bournonite crystals which are sitting on the underlying matrix associated with compressed rhombohedra of golden-brown Siderite. The crystals reach about 1.0 cm, with notably well-formed smooth faces. Most all of the crystals are undamaged, though some nicks can be seen, but this is a showy two-sided specimen of this desirable and seldom seen material dating back over 60 years at least! Valued $1,800. The piece comes with an old hand-written label from an unknown collection, along with another from the Gebhard collection.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#90 D), 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.