Lepidolite with Microlite (rare association piece)

Item Description

A showy and aesthetic old-time specimen of Lepidolite Mica from the famous locality at Aracuai. This three-dimensional piece is filled with excellent, well-formed, soft beige-purple colored hexagonal crystal groups of Lepidolite, and no matrix. Excellent condition on the display side, no major damage, outside of the bottom/back of the specimen where it was removed from the pocket wall. Additionally, there is an 8 mm yellow octahedral crystal of what I believe to be a species of Microlite on the specimen, which has not been reported previously from this locality, so this is a significant association specimen for what it is. This piece dates back about 50 years to the early 1970s, and nothing like this has been found in quite some time. For reference, Lepidolite is no longer an actual species, and is defined as a series between Polylithionite and Trilithionite, but without a true species designation. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#48 B), 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.