Elbaite Tourmaline ex. Smale, Halpern Coll's

Item Description

A stunning GEM CLEAN crystal of 18.82 grams (91.15 cts) of pure cutting rough from one of the best verdelite mines on the planet (verdelite being the trad ename for such pure greens from Brazil at the time). This is a perfect crystal, literally. Ex. James and Dawn Minette collection but with the additional story Jack noted that it had first been Steve Smale's. The timing makes sense. Steve spent a lot of time in Brazil in the heyday of the gem crystal mining from the 1970s-1980s and had access to source many great pockets of material, some of which he bought en masse both for his collection and for trading when he came home to Berkeley. The note , in Jack's hand, reads as follows (and he got the story from Steve, who lives not far away in the Bay Area); "It was Steve Smale's. He traded it to K. Pandey in early 1996, who took it to Tucson, where Jim Minette bought it. Together with many other pieces, Jim sold it to me for $6500. Steve says it is worth $2000." LOL, For those who know Steve, you know you get his true opinion if you ask! (This valuation was, of course, nearly 20 years ago now.)