Calcite (GEMMY crystals)

Item Description

This specimen is labeled as coming from the town of Limburg on der Lahn, which lies in western Hesse. An interesting historical note about this town: It has been theorized (though almost certainly incorrect) that this town was named after "lindworm" (worm = snake - see the Germanic definition of dragon) and was founded by Saint George "The Dragon Slayer". This piece is a gorgeous miniature sized specimen featuring a pair of very gemmy, "jewel"-like crystals of modified scalenohedral Calcite with optic colorless clarity measuring up to 2.3 cm, sitting beautifully on the underlying matrix. No damage I can see and the piece sits beautifully on its own without a base or clay. A very attractive and high quality example from this fairly obscure locality.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#178 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.