Rubellite Tourmaline (ex Henry de Linde Collection)

Item Description

A nice reference specimen of old time Pala material featuring attractive reddish-pink colored translucent prisms of Rubellite Tourmaline measuring up to 2.1 cm long partially frozen into lithia-bearing matrix (possibly "Lepidolite" coating Feldspar). It appears that the terminations of the Rubellites didn't have enough room to fully crystallize, so these are partial crystals, but it's still an attractive representation of this well-known material from San Diego County. From the collection of Henry de Linde (March 21, 1923 – April 4, 2019) of Hot Spring, Arkansas. Henry was one of the most prominent figures in the history of Arkansas mining and mineral collecting. Along with being a miner, mineral collector and an amateur mineralogist, de Linde was one of the founders of the Coon Creek Association mineral club. He was the owner of several key localities in Arkansas including the Diamond Jo Quarry (on the south rim of Magnet Cove), the type locality for Delindeite, which was named in his honor in 1987.