Hydroxylherderite with Tourmaline, Albite and Lepidolite

Item Description

A great old piece for this famous old gem producing locality. I think most people would agree that the most desirable color for Herderite (more properly Hydroxylherderite) is purple, and the purple crystals that came out of the Xanda Mine in the 1970s are the best examples of the species extant. This piece features a sharp, lustrous, well-formed, euhedral, monoclinic doubly-terminated crystal of purple Hydroxylherderite measuring 3.2 cm with dark blue to black colored prismatic Tourmaline crystals on bladed white crystals of Albite with golden purple Lepidolite mica. The Herderite may look like two crystals, but it's as single prism with two terminations which was interrupted by one of the Tourmaline crsytals. A cool gem crystal specimen of a species that is not often found in well-formed examples with a rare color. Valued at $1750 in the inventory.