Silver on Calcite

Item Description

A fairly hard to find matrix specimen of Silver on Calcite from the Glasberg Quarry in Hesse, Germany featuring small, somewhat dendritic, crystallized groups which have been exposed due to the fact that the Calcite has been partially etched away to better expose the Silver. A good number of the specimens I've seen from this locality are simply Silver, with no matrix, presumably because the Calcite was completely etched away, so matrix specimens are not easy to find. I've seen some of these pieces labeled as Kongsbergite, which is the mercury-bearing variety of Silver, though it was originally a valid species, but I cannot say if that's the case with this specimen. The Silver crystals look beautiful up close, and we've photographed them with a Canon MP-E 65 mm macro lens to better illustrate the quality.
From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#565 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.