Cassiterite (excellent large twins) on Muscovite

Item Description

There are a handful of notable mineral species from Pingwu, namely Beryl (Aquamarine and Goshenite), Scheelite and Cassiterite. I don't know of another locality on earth that has produced these three minerals together in the same size and quality as those from Pingwu. They are simply some of the most unique and attractive pieces from any Chinese locality. This particular piece features a few excellent quality, large, very sharp, lustrous, jet-black color, twinned crystals groups (showing repeated contact twinning on the {101} faces) of Cassiterite measuring up to 4.1 cm which are sitting atop a crystallized matrix of compressed, bladed, silvery Muscovite. It's rare to find such superior quality examples with Cassiterite like this in the modern era of mineral collecting, the only comparable specimens in terms of the style and the matrix are old classics from various localities in either Europe or Australia. The quality is superb all around on this piece, and I can only see a few small nicks on the front/display side. A great quality association specimen from this unique locality. Priced at $8,500 retail in our inventory. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#185 C), 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.