gemmy Tourmaline ex Whitmore Coll.

Item Description

A DECEPTIVE, sharply terminated, highly lustrous, well-striated, trigonal tourmaline crystal from the Bob Whitmore Collection. It looks essentially opaque in most lighting conditions, except for some translucent flashes of yellow-green on the edges. BUT, when backlit, the basal section has a gorgeous, rich green, gemmy section! One face of the termination has a super-sharp cleft, where a probable cleavelandite blade has been dissolved away. This side also has a contact from another tourmaline crystal and the base has very nifty, deep etching. Complete all-around and essentially pristine, with only very trivial termination edge wear. Older material, possibly from the famous Golconda pegmatite, which would date to the famous 1960s to early 70s finds. 33 grams.