Purple Fluor-Liddicoatite (unique floater crystal) ex Pezzotta

Item Description

Madagascar is the "king" for producing this rare variety of tourmaline species, once thought to be weird red rubellites but now shown to be a chemically unique tourmaline species (recently renamed to liddicoatite and then again to fluor-liddicoatite by the scientists). This is a special piece, even by the standards of those who have seen many: First off, the color is just a remarkable purple-magenta hue. Secondly, it's a complex, composite crystal like we've never seen from Madagascar or anywhere, with an interesting artistic shape to it! Purple coloring in Tourmaline is rare, and if compared side-by-side you can see that this is not like the cranberry color of Malkhan or Jonas mines either - rather, this piece has a very distinct PURPLE color. Purple is very rare in the tourmaline world, found only a few times. This complex crystal grew over two phases that give it the sparkling complexity you can see: The initial phase of crystallization of larger crystals was succeeded by another stage of Liddicoatite growth consisting of a coarse, 2 to 4mm, sparkling druse (tiny xls) of similarly colored crystals, but in total random orientation atop the first layer. It looks biological more than mineral! An understatedly exquisite and unique piece from 2018 mining by the company of our friend Dr. Federico Pezzotta, a pegmatite mineralogist specializing in pegmatite exploration and consultant to the government of Madagascar, whose working groups mine much of the most interesting mineral specimens from this country. The mineral Pezzottaite is named in his honor. A unique, colorful tourmaline with exceptional beauty. Valued $9,000-plus. By the way, this has no repairs and seems to be a complete floater, totally terminated all around. It masses 180 grams.