Copper with Calcite

Item Description

A wonderful, old-time, showy example of the famous Michigan Coppers featuring branching, crystalline groups with a beautiful patina and a light bluish oxidation on the surface (possibly Bornite or Connellite?) intermixed with rhombic, off-white colored Calcite to create a three-dimensional display specimen. The piece was labeled as coming from "Lake Superior", which is a valid locality in a sense, but I think it could be from the White Pine Mine specifically. The piece is sturdy, not at all fragile and displays quite well from a few angles. While there were many Copper specimens to come out of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, a much lower percentage of them were intermixed with attractive Calcite like this, as you can see defined rhombic faces, and the Calcite isn't just a mass of uncrystallized material. Good quality and certainly aesthetic, for what are among the finest specimens of crystallized Copper ever found. Valued $2,000.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#91 US), 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 for the coming months/years through our various platforms.