Bi-colored Tourmaline, Quartz & Cleavelandite (Bill Larson Coll.)

Item Description

A really cute, aesthetic and uncommon small cabinet tourmaline combination plate from the famous Stewart Mine. The mine is renowned for gorgeous, "hot-pink" tourmaline, but has also produced very fine bi-colored tourmalines, such as this very fine combination example from the late 1960s and early 70s finds. An adorable 1.7 cm bi-colored trigonal tourmaline is the highlight of the piece. Most of the lustrous, striated trigonal crystal is black schorl. A gorgeous gem, 3 mm, indicolite-blue section lies below the matte lustre violet pinacoidal termination. Satin lustre, translucent quartz points, to 1.7 cm, are aesthetically scattered among the cleavelandite blades and there are pink lepidolite crystals preferentially deposited on the backs of some of the quartz crystals. Discovered in the late 1800s, the Steward was mined for lepidolite for lithium into the 1920s. Pala International (Ed Swoboda and Bill Larson) purchased the mine in 1968 and successfully recovered fine tourmaline, morganite and kunzite until 1972. The mine was worked by other operators into the 2000s. See the 2002 Mineralogical Record article in Vol. 33, No. 5. Ex Bill Larson San Diego County Pegmatite Collection and long on display at his Pala International shop in Fallbrook. This exceptional and rare small cabinet tourmaline combination of this style is from the 1960s or 70s finds.