Zoisite (excellent ''Alpine-type'' specimen)

Item Description

Here we have a rarely seen multi-crystal specimen of Zoisite from the Alchuri "Alpine-type'' cleft deposits in Pakistan. Alchuri is probably best known for its excellent "Alpine-type" Epidote crystals, which are very comparable to the superb old classics from the Knappenwand in Austria, but there are also a couple other members of the Epidote group found at this locality, namely Clinozoisite and Zoisite. Now most of you are probably more familiar with the blue/purple variety of Zoisite, Tanzanite, and outside of Tanzania, it's not easy to get fine, sharp, well-formed crystals of the species on the market. This piece is a fantastic example of this hard to find material featuring many gemmy, lustrous medium green colored prismatic crystals intergrown to create a showy and fine quality miniature sized specimen. The largest individual crystal measures approximately 3.0 cm. Most of the crystals are undamaged, though there are a few areas of incomplete growth where presumably the Zoisites were attached to the pocket wall. There even appears to be a "Faden" line running across the crystals ("Faden" is the German word for "string", and you often see this phenomenon in Epidote and Quartz from Pakistan, but rarely in Zoisite, mostly because the Zoisites are often only found as loose single crystals and not groups like this). The crystals on this piece are better than the vast majority I've seen from Alchuri in terms of form, sharpness, luster and gemminess. This is a great piece to add to any collection, as you would be hard-pressed to find another like it in similar quality on the market today. I can guess that the piece was collected at least 20 years ago, possibly going back into the 1990s, and it's an impressive example of these seldom-seen Zoisites. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#131 AP), 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.