Bournonite (''cogwheel'' twins) on Quartz

Item Description

The Yaogangxian Mine in China is one of the most well-known and greatest mineral producing localities in the entire country over the last few decades. This prolific mine has produced a large number of beautiful crystallized specimens, including some of the finest quality crystallized Bournonite specimens. Bournonite isn't necessarily a rare sulfosalt, but honestly, there are only a few operating localities in the world that produce superb Bournonites. This piece is filled with sharp, lustrous, dark silvery-grey color, metallic, elongated "cogwheel"-shaped twinned crystals of Bournonite measuring up to 1.3 cm, sitting on white Quartz matrix. The piece is in very good shape as far as the Bournonite crystals are concerned, and it sits beautifully on its own without the aid of a base or clay. These are not nearly as common on the market as they were several years ago, so if you missed out them, be sure to pick this one up for a great price. I value this one in the $600-$800 range retail. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#117 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 over the next two to three years through our various platforms.