Villiaumite ex Hefendehl

Item Description

This is an outstanding Villiaumite miniature from this important locality, a gemmy to translucent, cherry-red Villiaumite "crystal" with a little bit of white Natrolite for contrast. Although beautiful and seemingly cubic, most specimens of Villiaumite of any size are simply cleavage fragments, like this one, however this showy piece may have one frontal face. This piece is distinguished by its deep merlot wine red color and translucency with light transmitting easily along the edges. It is moderately fluorescent orange in short wave ultraviolet light. This rare sodium fluoride occurs in unusual hyperalkaline pegmatites in the Khibiny massif on the Kola Peninsula of the Russia. Old material! 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.