Fluorapatite

Item Description

A wonderful old-time specimen of Fluorapatite from the type locality for the species! Ehrenfriedersdorf was the premier locality for "Apatite" in Europe, and one of the great mining districts in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains). The classic crystals from this area were used in old lithographs to illustrate the quality and range of the species. They are precursors to their similar looking cousins from Panasqueira, Portugal, and this piece is a great example as it has a very similar color and style. The piece features a group of sharp, lustrous, gemmy, soft, silvery grey colored hexagonal crystals, with notable striations along the prism faces. The main crystal on the specimen is doubly-terminated, but it's contacted on both ends, so it's not damage-free, but it's a good sized crystal for the locality, and would make a nice addition to any Apatite suite or a collection of old European/German classics. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#391 D), 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.