"Blue" Quartz with Purple Tourmaline!

Item Description

I wish I had a more specific locality for this one, but I bought it from a friend in South Africa who says it came to him simply as "Erongo", which isn't saying much, but it's a starting point. Perhaps somebody else out there has seen this material, and can shed some light on its true origins. At first, the piece doesn't necessarily look like much, but once you backlight it, a brand new specimen appears. The Quartz crystals are very well-formed, sharp and lustrous, but look almost black on the exterior, but are actually BLUE internally (most likely from the inclusions of an amphibole species). They have excellent hexagonal prismatic form with beautiful striated faces along the prisms. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the prismatic Tourmalines on the piece appear to simply be nondescript black Schorl crystals, but with strong backlighting, we see that they are actually PURPLE inside! I think that true purple Tourmaline could be considered the most rare color for a Tourmaline, and even though the crystals on this specimen are not completely transparent, you can definitely see the purple color with strong backlighting. One of the larger Tourmaline crystals has a complete basal termination, but many other sadly are broken. Nonetheless, how often does one see two fairly common species together with such RARE internal coloring? Blue is probably the most rare color for Quartz, so when combined with the very rare purple Tourmaline, one has to take notice. If you collect Quartz, Tourmaline, association pieces or even unusual gem crystal specimens, don't miss out on this one. It is truly unique, and the ONLY one like it that I've seen. Perhaps another will come along, or maybe this one was from a very isolated discovery. I can't say for sure, but what I do know is that pieces like this always seem to be very difficult to find, so if you like it, be sure to bid accordingly. It was hard to photograph, but it's fun to view in person.