Pyromorphite (large impressive crystal!)

Item Description

The famous Pyromorphites from the Friedrichssegen Mine (most people refer to them as coming from Bad Ems), are some of the most iconic and classic examples of the species from any world locality. Typically, the crystals don't measure more than about 1 cm, but this wonderful miniature hosts a crystal that is nearly 2 cm long(!), which is larger than the vast majority I've seen from this historic mine. The crystal itself is a robust, sharp, lustrous, rich brown colored hexagonal prism with a lighter colored "cap" measuring 1.8 cm, aesthetically perched on matrix. A second Pyromorphite can be seen on the side of the piece for a nice touch. Now the main crystal unfortunately has an obvious contact near the termination, so it's not pristine, but it doesn't take away from the impressive size. There are hundreds of Pyromorphite localities around the world, but rarely does one find individual crystals of this size, free standing on matrix like this, and the fact that it's from one of the most well-known localities for the species is a huge bonus. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#24 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 over the next two to three years through our various platforms.