Magnetite (rare locality specimen)

Item Description

A very hard to find specimen of Alpine Magnetite, not from the Binntal of Switzerland, but rather the Tyrol of Austria. I honestly had never seen one of these specimens before, but there is a listing on mindat.org for this material ( https://www.mindat.org/photo-339808.html ). I'm not sure when they were collected, but my gut says that they probably date back a few decades. What makes the piece so significant is the fact that the Magnetite crystal measures a whopping 2.2 cm(!), which is notably larger than almost any other Magnetite you'll find from any other Austrian Alpine locality. The majority of what is found around the Austrian Alps are micro crystals, typically no more than a few mm, so to have a crystal approach a full inch on matrix like this is a big deal. The Magnetite shows wonderful sharp octahedral form with a muted grey-black color, and it's sitting atop a contrast grey-blue matrix which gives is a distinctive appearance. If you're a fan of Alpine minerals, or specimens from Europe, or if you just like Magnetite as a species (most collectors don't have a good showy Magnetite in their collections), don't miss out on this excellent specimen. I would put the value on this one from $2,000-$2,500 for the excellent size and displayability. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#51 O), 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.