Fluor-buergerite (very rare Tourmaline species)

Item Description

A wonderful and very rare example of the classic "Buergerite" Tourmaline specimens (now classified as Fluor-buergerite) from the type locality in Mexico. These desirable pieces were all said to have come from a one time find by a single miner, who died and never divulged the location of the deposit to anyone, so it has remained lost since the 1960s. This miniatures sized piece features classic chocolate-bronze colored prismatic trigonal crystals measuring up to 7 mm on soft brownish-pink rhyolite matrix. Most of the crystals are in very good shape. Overall it's an attractive specimen filled with multiple crystals and displays nicely as you can see.
This piece is from the collection of the well-known mineral dealer and collector from Colorado, Richard ("Rich") A. Kosnar (1946-2007). He was the namesake for the rare zirconium phosphate species, Kosnarite.