Lepidolite with Tourmaline on Quartz (RARE locality specimen) (ex Kurt Hefendehl Collection)

Item Description

This is a special, rarely seen and dramatic Lepidolite specimen from the famous locality at Paprok, Afghanistan. Many of you probably associate this locality with its amazing Tourmalines, Kunzites and other gem pegmatite minerals, but it's incredibly rare to find such a showy display quality specimen of Lepidolite like this piece. This small cabinet sized display specimen features fine quality, layered Lepidolite groups which are dramatically flaring out of matrix to create a rather three-dimensional specimen. A few associated sharp, lustrus, gemmy Quartz crystals along with minor green Tourmaline are a nice accent. The Lepidolite varies in color from a GLOWING pinkish-purple hue at the top to a soft golden color at the base/back. Overall, the Lepidolite crystals are in good shape, but there is a bit of roughness in spots where it was attached to the pocket wall. We've honestly only had one other specimen of this material from Paprok to offer in the auctions and if you collect pegmatite minerals or have a passion for display quality specimens of Mica, don't miss out on this one. I was told this piece came from a single pocket circa 2010-2011, and nothing else like it was found again. If you think about the number of Mica specimens in the world, how many of them are this dramatic, showy and colorful with FREE-STANDING COLORFUL crystals like this!? Priced in our inventory at $2,400. It should be noted that Lepidolite is no longer a valid mineral species (it's now defined as a series between Polylithionite and Trilithionite), but until it has a true definition from the IMA, most people are still using the term because it's been in use for over 100 years. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl, 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.