Chalcocite (fine crystals)

Item Description

This is a wonderful, aesthetic and classic specimen from Dzhezkazgan dating back around 30 years (early 1990s) featuring several tabular, well-formed grey crystals of Chalcocite beautifully perched atop gemmy, sparkling Quartz crystals on matrix. There are some Calcite crystals on the piece which are coated with what appears to be oxidized Chalcopyrite, creating a bit of contrast. The largest Chalcocite measures 1.0 cm across, and virtually every crystal (outside of the peripheral edge) has no real damage. It's rare to find free-standing isolated crystals like this from Dzhezkazgan, and these pieces are already hard enough to find on the market. Valued at $1,500 for the fine quality and displayability, and certainly worth picking up if you missed out on these years ago. They are certainly some of the more interesting examples of Chalcocite out there.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#658 R), 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.