Smithsonite (uncommon locality)

Item Description

Smithsonite specimens from Touissit are typically not seen on the market these days, most of the good ones were found years ago, but if you're fortunate to get your hands on a good one, you can appreciate the quality and beauty of these elusive pieces. They somewhat remind me of Smithsonites I've seen from Broken Hill, Australia and you can make comparisons to other Smithsonites from Tsumeb or even the Santa Eulalia District in Mexico, but they still have their own distinct look that makes them distinguishable from other localities. This piece hosts a group of notably resinous, botryoidal, soft greenish-yellow colored, gemmy/translucent Smithsonite groups on minor matrix. The largest "ball" measures 1.3 cm across. The piece is in good condition, with no major damage that I can see, only a few exposed areas where the matrix is poking through from below the Smithsonites. This is a good miniature of this seldom-seen material, and would make a great addition to a suite or secondary ore minerals, carbonates or minerals from
Touissit or Morocco in general. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#139 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 next two to three years through our various platforms.