Rhodochrosite with Bertrandite ex Hefendehl

Item Description

A significant miniature from a rare locale: Several dark pink to pink-red Rhodochrosite rhombs adorn this colorful miniature specimen from the Kara-Oba tungsten deposit in Kazakhstan. These Rhodos, somewhat resembling those from the Sweet Home Mine, came out in the 1980s and 1990s and have not been seen since. Almost a dozen lustrous, gemmy to translucent Rhodochrosite crystals from 3 mm to 2.3 cm are prominently displayed on a thin plate of Quartz with numerous, ivory colored, bladed Bertrandite crystals from 2 mm to 1 cm forming sheaves and clusters scattered on the Quartz matrix. There are even a few, small, 2.5 mm, dark purple Fluorite cubes on one corner for added interest and color. The mine was supposedly a military-financed tungsten mine, no longer operating economically. At one time, though, it produced great minerals! These are old classics! Kurt Hefendehl was a well-known collector in the mineral world all over Europe with worldwide contacts to dealers and collectors. He started collecting seriously at the age of 14 in about 1952; and his great and varied worldwide collection reached a number of 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 collection over the next two to three years through our various platforms.