Calcite (rare color and style)

Item Description

The Wenshan Calcites can vary greatly in terms of their habits, styles and colors, and this piece is a great example of what I'm talking about. Over the years, I've seen a fair number of Calcites from this mine with some kind of iron content, typically giving them a light yellow to golden-orange hue. THIS piece has the richest saturation I've seen in this material, as it glows with a strong red-orange color. The piece is filled with wonderful, geometric, trigonal crystals of Calcite which are gemmy enough to allow the light to pass and really let that color come through. Honestly, I thought this must have been a Scheelite when I first saw it, as the crystals have an almost di-pyramidal shape with slight semi-striations on certain faces, and the color is very close to the classic Scheelites from Pingwu, but once you pick it up, you'll note that it's considerably lighter than a Scheelite this size would be. Calcite is one of the most diverse minerals in the world in terms of the wide range of colors in which its found, but this intense hue is certainly rare, not only for Wenshan, but almost anywhere in the world. This piece is in very good condition all over, with only a handful of small bruises in a few spots. A must-have specimen for any fan of Calcites, minerals of China or just beautifully colorful display specimens. Retail price on this one is $2,500. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#132 RS), 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.