Ferro-Hornblende (rare locality specimen)

Item Description

An incredibly hard to find specimen of Ferro-Hornblende from the prolific Huanggang Mine in Inner Mongolia. This is the FIRST specimen of this material that we've had to offer in the auctions, and it's a supreme quality example to boot! Several rather lustrous, euhedral, notably well-formed, dark greenish-black, prismatic crystal groups measuring up to 4.4 cm long sit atop matrix, and are associated with minor Calcite and some deep orange-red crystals of what appear to be Sphalerite (see photo). I love the beveled modifications along the edges of the crystals, giving them a very pleasing appearance. The piece is rather showy and aesthetic and displays quite nicely. No major damage I can see, outside of the periphery where the piece was removed from the pocket wall. A choice specimen for anybody who is a fan of Amphiboles or if you have a suite of minerals from this soon-to-be-classic locality, this would be a great one to add to your collection.
Valued $2,000.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#928 C), 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 coming months and years through our various platforms.