Quartz with Hematite coating

Item Description

This piece is labeled as coming from a place called "Djebel Ayachi", Morocco, but I can't find an entry for this locality in any database, so I'm not entirely sure where it was found. What I can say is that it does not resemble anything I can remember seeing from anywhere in the entire country and the style and color are unique. The piece features a group of sharp, well-formed, gemmy, hexagonal crystals, which vary for elongated prisms to compressed tabular habits which are coated by orange Hematite (Specularite). Only some of the crystals have the Hematite coating, as the periphery of the specimen (where it was removed from the pocket wall) features purely white Quartz. The largest crystal measures 3.7 cm, and the larger ones are all in good shape with the exception of the one on the right which unfortunately has a broken termination. It's certainly unique, and eye-catching and I think it would make a great addition to any collection of worldwide Quartz specimens or minerals from Morocco. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#7 M), 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 coming months and years through our various platforms.