Harmotome (cruciform twins) (classic material)

Item Description

A fine quality specimen of the rare zeolite, Harmotome featuring the classics cruciform (cross-shaped) twins for which the word "Kreuzstein" was coined in German. As matter of fact, Harmotome was named for the Greek words for "joint" and "cutting," in allusion to the iconic twinned crystals often seen in the species. These crystals are often small, but the morphology and beauty of the twins is first-rate. This piece is filled with many small (up to about 3 mm) sharp, well-formed, lustrous, striated, porcelain-white twinned crystals of Harmotome, sitting on matrix. We have photographed the crystals with a Canon MP-E 65 mm macro lens to better illustrate the quality. A great example of this historic and renowned material. St Andreasberg is the type locality for the species, named in 1801
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#143 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.