Calcite (Manganese-bearing) (beautiful form)

Item Description

A wonderfully showy, three-dimensional and fine quality cabinet display piece of this classic material from the Nikolaevskiy Mine in Dalnegorsk. The piece is composed of dozens, if not hundreds of pearly, compressed, rhombic crystals of soft pink (manganese-bearing) crystals of Calcite forming a beautiful, swirling, ethereal group with minor attached matrix. I love the unique flowing form of the Calcites, which are truly unlike anything I can remember seeing from the locality, and I've seen a good number of these pink Calcites from this mine over the years. Very minor roughness can be seen, but the piece is largely undamaged, and it's even crystallized on the back. There are also a few small areas where you can clearly see the hexagonal cross-section of a few Quartz crystals that are sitting just beneath the surface of the Calcite. I value this one highly for its size, aesthetics and beautiful arrangement, and I would have it priced on the shelf at a show in the range of about $2,500 retail.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#467 Ru), 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 through our various platforms.