Colemanite (superb crystals!) (ex Kurt Hefendehl Collection)

Item Description

An outstanding Colemanite specimen from this now closed mine in Death Valley, California. Typically, Colemanite crystals are translucent, rarely super gemmy, and the majority of the gemmy crystals are often quite thin, either tabular or prismatic. THIS piece is certainly the finest example of Colemanite that we've had to offer from the locality as it features not only GEMMY crystals, but they are thick, blocky, well-formed and beautiful to view in person. I know this is a colorless Borate species, but as Charlie Key used to say, "good is good", so you have to appreciate the fact that these are truly top-notch Colemanite crystals. The largest individual Colemanite measures 2.0 cm long. No major damage that I can find, outside of the periphery where the piece was removed from the pocket wall. A fantastic overall specimen of a mineral which according to mindat was named William Coleman, a founder of the California borax industry and owner of the mine where the species was first found. I value this one highly for its supreme quality, in the $4,000-$5,000 range. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl, 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.