Celestine (excellent color and quality for the locality)

Item Description

Celestine specimens from the N'Chwaning II Mine are rare on the market. They are typically found in pale blue to nearly white, sometimes chalky thin crystals, but THIS piece is certainly one of if not the best quality examples of the species that we've ever had to offer from this prestigious locality. This gorgeous small cabinet sized piece is filled with excellent, highly lustrous, beautiful soft blue colored, tapered orthorhombic crystals measuring up to 1.6 cm sitting on matrix. Both the color, crystal form and superior luster are as good as anything I've seen from this mine. Very minor roughness in a few spots, the piece is largely damage free. If you collect minerals from South Africa or from the famous N'Chwaning Mines, this is a must have specimen, really choice and better in person! Valued at $2,000-$2,500. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#83 SA), 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.