Calcite with iron oxide

Item Description

A classic specimen from the famous Daye Mine featuring a predominant pair of doubly-terminated, sharp, well-formed scalenohedral Calcite crystals measuring up to 2.5 cm with the characteristic reddish-orange coating of iron oxide to create a vivid overall appearance, which are sitting on a partial crystal of Calcite with a darker brown hue (presumably also from iron oxide). If you flip the piece over, you can see the underside of the exposed Calcite is actually white/colorless, so the iron oxide is only coating the surface. No major damage and very showy. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl, 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.