Goethite (fine crystals) with Smoky Quartz and Calcite

Item Description

This is a notably fine quality and eye-catching specimen of superbly well-crystallized Goethite from the lesser-known Becker Quarry (Hellerberg Quarry) featuring "sprays" comprising sharp, lustrous, brown-black crystals sitting atop pyramidal smoky colored Quartz crystals, along with a few pale golden Calcite crystals on matrix. The largest Goethite crystal measures about 5 mm long, and they look beautiful up close, as we have illustrated in the close-up photos. Keep in mind that a lot of Goethite specimens are either massive / uncrystallized or reniform / botryoidal, so actual crystals are RARE. A really beautiful specimen with superb quality crystals. This is something that most collectors don't even think about adding to their collections because it's a "black rock", but when you take the superior crystallization into account, you realize that this a truly desirable specimen for what it is. It should be noted that the pronunciation of this species is a bit confusing, but we like to point out that it was named after the famous German philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, so it is properly pronounced GER-tite (with a hard "g" like Gertrude). Valued $750.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#145 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 for the foreseeable future through our various platforms.