Wire Silver on Acanthite

Item Description

From a discovery circa 2006-2008 in China, this is an attractive miniature sized example from the famed Hongda Mine featuring bright thin wires of Silver, which are sitting atop dark grey-black colored Acanthite matrix. You might see these pieces labeled as a pseudomorph of Acanthite after Argentite, they are technically paramorphs as Acanthite will actually transform into Argentite in an environment where the temperature reaches above 177° Celsius, but they are not pseudomorphs. In the case of a specimen like this, the Silver is literally growing directly from the Acanthite, which is a silver sulfide, and is actually the source of most wire Silver specimens you'll find in nature. Essentially, acid underground will lead to the dissolution of the Acanthite, and the Silver wires will grow directly out, and often all of the Acanthite will be dissolved away, leaving only Silver behind. The pieces from the Hondga Mine are well-known examples of this phenomenon, and are often seen with at least a bit of residual Acanthite in places. This piece is a good overall example of this soon-to-be-classic material from a locality that is no longer producing specimens. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#65 C), 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.