Fluorapatite (var: Carbonate-rich Fluorapatite)

Item Description

A beautiful showy matrix specimen of what used to be called "Staffelite", but is now defined as a variety of Fluorapatite (Carbonate-rich Fluorapatite). The piece hosts a coverage of dozens if not hundreds of little turquoise colored "balls" atop a slab of host rock matrix. Typically this material is a pale beige hue, and I'm told that these specimens from the Kovdor Zheleznyi Mine get their color from copper content. This is certainly one of the best pieces of this material that we've had to offer, as there is very little damage on the top/display side, and the color and slightly "waxy" luster are better than most we've seen as well. Valued at $800-$1,000. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#265 RU), 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.