Sphalerite (gemmy bi-colored crystals)

Item Description

Sphalerite is a well-known sulfide species, found all over the world, but it's important to remember that most Sphalerite crystals are often black or opaque, so when you find gemmy crystals with such VIVID colors like this piece, it's a big deal. This specimen comes from the historic Banská Štiavnica District (formerly called Schemnitz) in Slovakia and features several very lustrous, well-formed, GEMMY crystals which might looks dark in reflected light, but when they're backlit, they have a strong red and golden hues internally. The largest Sphalerite crystal group measures 2.7 cm across at its widest dimension, and they are sitting on a layer of white drusy Quartz and massive silvery Galena on matrix. Most of the Sphalerites are in very good shape, though I can see a few tiny blemishes in a handful of spots, so it's not 100% pristine, but still really good for what it is for the locality, and the species in general. I would encourage people to look online for comparison as there aren't many pieces from this locality with such gemmy, lustrous and vibrantly colored Sphalerite crystals on the market. I would put this one in the $1,500-$2,000 range retail for the quality, the historic locality, and the fact that it's from the established collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#111 T), 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.