Cassiterite (twins) with Scheelite on Muscovite

Item Description

There are a handful of quintessential mineral species from the Pingwu Mine. The first species most people think of might be Beryl (Aquamarine and Goshenite), but the Cassiterite and Scheelite crystals from this locality are world-classic. They are simply some of the best quality and most attractive pieces from any world locality. This particular piece features many top quality, very sharp, lustrous, jet-black color, twinned crystals groups (showing repeated contact twinning on the {101} faces) of Cassiterite measuring up to 1.2 cm which are sitting atop a crystallized matrix of compressed, bladed, silvery Muscovite. If you look closely, you'll see there are dozens of light golden-yellow pseudo-octahedral crystals of Scheelite on the piece, but they really glow with color when exposed to SW UV light, where they fluoresce a bright blue-white hue. It's rare to find such fine 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't find any major damage, only some minor roughness. A great quality association specimen from this unique locality. Valued $1,500.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#303 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 through our various platforms.