Biotite pseudomorph after Tourmaline (ex Dr. Wouter van Tichelen Collection)

Item Description

This might be one of the last things you'd expect to see from Arizona. This is the kind of piece you'd expect to see from somewhere in Brazil, but Arizona was certainly not the first place that entered my mind when I looked at it. Typically, most pseudomorphs you'll find from the "Copper State" have to do with secondary ore minerals, or Quartz replacing Calcite / Fluorite, but this is straight out of a pegmatite deposit, which isn't unheard of from Arizona, though certainly rare. This specimen is labeled as coming from Willow Springs, which is a 3 mile less popular doubletrack trail located near Oracle, Arizona. The piece features a complete replacement of sparkling, semi-metallic copper-bronze colored Biotite Mica completely replacing a prismatic trigonal Tourmaline crystal, free of matrix. The piece features a well-formed termination, with distinct triangular faces. A really special and unique piece from the prestigious pseudomorph collection of Dr. Wouter van Tichelen of Belgium.