Calcite (zoned crystals) with Quartz

Item Description

This is an attractive and unusual specimen from Dalnegorsk featuring compressed clamshell-esque crystal groups of stacked rhombs of Calcite with a snow-white hue on the outer portions, but the "equator" of each group has a defined color zoning "stripe". When backlit, the crystals are slightly pink, best seen with backlighting, meaning that they are manganese-bearing. The largest Calcite group measures 3.8 cm across. Small colorless transparent prisms of Quartz along with metallic dark bronze colored Sphalerite are also present for a nice touch. I can't find any damage with the naked eye, and the piece is incredibly showy as you can see from the video. This is certainly not your typical Dalnegorsk Calcite, it's distinctive and unusual and would make a great addition to any Calcite suite or a collection of minerals from this well-known Russian locality.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#681 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 over the coming months and years through our various platforms.