Thomsonite-Ca (superb quality)

Item Description

This specimen is labeled as coming from the "Stbr. Richer" = Steinbruck Richter = Richter Quarry, which is listed as the Phonolite Quarry on mindat.org. The Thomsonite (more accurately Thomsonite-Ca) specimens from the Hammerunterwiesenthal of the Ore Mountains have produced some of the finest examples of the species you'll see. The famous pieces from the Prospect Park Quarry or even the more contemporary specimens from India might feature larger "balls", but the supreme LUSTER seen on these pieces from Hammerunterwiesenthal are about as good as it gets. This piece is loaded with dozens of incredibly lustrous, fine quality, beautifully crystallized spherical aggregates of Thomsonite of a gentle cream color, measuring up to 2.1 cm across, sitting on matrix. The majority of the Thomsonite spheres are undamaged, but there is a bit of forgivable roughness along the periphery where the piece was separated from the pocket wall. The piece actually sits reasonable well on its own without the aid of a base or clay. This is a truly fine quality and showy display specimen of this uncommon zeolite species, which is seldom seen in excellent cabinet sized pieces like this. I value this one highly for its size and supreme quality, in the $2,500-$3,000 range.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#593 D), 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 for the foreseeable future through our various platforms.