Diopside (bi-colored crystals) with Prehnite

Item Description

This is certainly one of the best examples of Diopside that we've ever seen from this large asbestos locality. The piece is filled with wonderful prismatic crystals of Diopside that features a vivid green color on the upper portions, but the lower half of the crystals is a pinkish-purple hue (possibly from manganese content?). You can clearly see the transition in color when you look at the crystals from the side, and they almost remind one of the classic bi-colored Vesuvianite crystals from the Jeffrey Quarry in Quebec. The Diopside crystals are sharp and lustrous, with very little damage, measuring up to 2.1 cm long. There is a coating of pale golden colored micro crystals of gemmy/translucent Prehnite, creating a beautiful contrast to the piece. There are rare, especially with this kind of color (bi-color) and a piece like this is virtually impossible to find anywhere else outside of an old comprehensive collection like this. Don't miss out, it's the only one we have, and I doubt highly we'll see another like it anytime soon. If I had this one for sale at a show, I would put a retail price around $2,500 on it. It's really significant for what it is, and you'd be hard-pressed to find another like it. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#457 Ru), 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. Priced at $1,500 in our inventory.