Calcite (rare Alpine locality)

Item Description

This is a rarely seen Calcite specimen labeled as coming from the Mauerkeeskopf (located inside the Hohe Tauern National Park in the Austrian Alps). This very showy full cabinet-sized piece hosts a predominant, textbook rhombic crystal measuring 3.1 cm, surrounded by smaller rhombic Calcites, which have a coating of sparkling "Chlorite" on nearly all faces, sitting on matrix. The piece is largely undamaged, though small imperfections can be seen up close. It should be noted that Calcite is not actually reported from this locality according to the entry on mindat.org, but it's very possible that the piece was found somewhere in the vicinity of the Mauerkeeskopf, and it's exact point of discovery was kept secret by the Strahler who found it, a common practice among the Alpine diggers.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#57 O), 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.