Red gem bi-colored Tourmaline (Smale Coll.)

Item Description

A striking, old-time, bi-colored, Cruzeiro tourmaline from the Steve Smale Collection. The gemmy upper half is beautifully juicy, pleasing shades of cranberry-red capped with a highly lustrous pyramidal termination. The lower half of the lustrous, well-striated, crystal is starkly contrating, translucent, light gray. A very picky, trivial bit of sidewear and termination edgewear noted by us, but is certainly a modest detraction and given the age and rarity, I think acceptable in context. Red, bi-colored Cruzeiro crystals of this quality came out in the 1960s and 70s and are very uncommon and are highly desired. I got this one in a large trade with Steve from his extensive Brazilian collection. 6 grams. Valued at $450-500