Smithsonite on Coronadite (classic material)

Item Description

A fantastic, sculptural, stalactite-esque group of dark grey colored Coronadite is covered with dozens of translucent, very soft green colored, globular and "rice grain" shaped aggregates of Smithsonite measuring up to about 5 mm. The Smithsonites cover the matrix all the way around, save the bottom where it was separated from the pocket wall. Beautiful material, iconic for Broken Hill, and seldom seen on the market today. Showy and fine quality, especially in full cabinet sized example. Valued $1,500.
The Broken Hill area in New South Wales, Australia is without question one of the top mineral specimen producing localities in history. The good number of specimens, combined with the plethora of fine quality species made it a landmark locality for collectors. Mineral specimens aside, the actually value of the ORES from this area were a key factor for early prosperity in the Australia mining industry, and fair number of the minerals found here are iconic classics, unique in their appearance, quality and associations.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#172 Au), 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.