Chalcopyrite on Epidote (RARE association specimen for the locality)

Item Description

The Les Collades Ravine (Escales Reservoir) locality is a regional locality that has produced some attractive specimens of Epidote that date back years ago, but nowawadays no collecting is allowed because the locality is within the Sant Gervàs protected natural area. THIS specimen is an incredibly hard to find association specimen featuring a few, sharp, well-formed, metallic crystals of silvery colored Chalcopyrite measuring up to 2.7 cm, sitting atop a three-dimensional matrix that plays host to dozens of highly lustrous, deep green, thin prismatic crystals of Epidote. The Chalcopyrites have an oxidation on the surface, hence the more silvery hue as opposed to a typical brassy color that is commonly seen in the species, but it's the fact that they're on Epidote that makes this so unusual. It's honstly rare to find sulfides of any species sitting ON Epidote, especially good sized, free-standing crytals like this, and this particular specimen is the ONLY one of its kind that we've ever seen from Les Collades. If you collect minerals of Spain, unusual associations or you're a big fan of sulfides, this is something you won't find anywhere else, and we don't have another like it to offer, so don't miss out. It's exactly the kind of esoteric, yet still excellent specimen that you can only find in deep / comprehensive collections like this one.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#89 ES), 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.