Mimetite (GEM crystals) with Hidalgoite (RARE association)

Item Description

Tsumeb is beloved by collectors, dealers and academics for its abundance of fine quality minerals, ranging from common to incredibly rare. A large percentage of the minerals found at Tsumeb were and still are the best crystallized examples of their respective species ever found. The finest Mimetite crystals from Tsumeb were transparent yellow prisms, certainly the best quality Mimetites ever found, and this piece hosts many of these highly sought after crystals, which are virtually WATER-CLEAR with a very pale yellow hue, and they are accented by a "dusting" of bright yellow Hidalgoite, coating a good percentage of the matrix. The largest Mimetite measures about 1.0 cm long. Additionally, if you look closely, you can see some little burnt orange colored crystals of Wulfenite, which we have photographed with a macro lens to better illustrate the quality. I will mention that Kurt's collection catalogue states that Duftite is present on this specimen, though I couldn't find anything that I could say for certain was Duftite. To the best of my knowledge, Tsumeb is the ONLY mine in the world where Mimetite is found with Hidalgoite, and it's still INCREDIBLY rare to find, even from this prolific locality. I can't remember seeing another quite like it, so if you're a Tsumeb collector, or you love secondary ore minerals, or you've always wanted to get one of these classic GEM Mimetites, this is a great chance to pick up a fine quality example of these classic and desirable specimens.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#100 T), 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 through our various platforms.