Fluorite (uncommon locality)

Item Description

A rarely seen, old-time display specimen from Bergheim, France featuring sharp, well-formed, lustrous, gemmy purple cubes of Fluorite measuring up to 1.3 cm on edge, sitting on matrix from now extinct limestone quarry. The majority of the cubes are undamaged, and they show slight "phantom" zoning when backlit. My favorite aspect of the piece is that the crystals are fairly well-isolated, and not tightly intergrown. Probably mined circa 1950s.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#24 F), 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.