Rubellite Tourmaline in Quartz (Bill Larson Coll.)

Himalaya Mine, San Diego Co., California, USA
Cabinet, 11.4 x 6.4 x 4.8 cm
Start Time: 01/21/2022 7:30:00 pm (CST)
End Time: 02/05/2022 6:05:00 pm (CST)
Auction Closed
Winning Bid: $1,650
View Closed Auction Set

Item Description

A tight cluster of gemmy, dark pink Rubellite Tourmaline crystals are elegantly placed on the side of a gemmy, doubly terminated and slightly smoky Quartz crystal! Three of the five Tourmaline crystals in the cluster are terminated and all of them are super lustrous and completely gem! The big Quartz crystal measures 11.4 cm from one terminated end to the other. It exhibits a satin luster on the side with the Tourmaline crystals while the other faces are glassy and reveal the transparency within along with some areas clouded by fluid inclusions. The dark pink Tourmaline crystals can be seen right through the Quartz, making for a very unique specimen! There are some low profile, parallel growth faces on this side too for added interest. The piece appears to be a floater unless it was attached by the Tourmaline crystals as the Quartz shows no point of attachment at all. A really special Himalaya piece. Self-Collected in the 1980s by, and from the important and long-held personal San Diego County Collection of William "Bill" Larson, longtime owner of the Himalaya Mine and discoverer of the famous Queen Mine BlueCap pocket and numerous other San Diego mining projects over the last 50 years and more. We are proud to present this publicly for the first time. Bill mined these himself and often did not fully clean his own specimens, so this is the first time we have seen it cleaned, as well - the quartz used to be dirty and dull but now it is sparkly and beautiful, the way it formed originally! Note we chose only to clean this specimen, not add minor restoration to the 2 very minor tips that were broken (the way it was found, natural in any case), as it looks good enough on its own as is. It is amazing to see some of these old self-collected items cleaned up for the first time, and share them. The Himalaya mine has a special place in many collectors' hearts, and unique pieces like this (unrepaired I might add) are hard to come by. Valued in the collection at $6000-7500

Did You Know We Offer Custom Bases?

Learn More

Miss this auction? Buy Tourmaline mineral specimens on iRocks.com

Bidding History

Bid Amount Bid Time
$1,650 02/05/2022 5:55:20 pm (CST)
$1,600 * 02/05/2022 5:55:13 pm (CST)
$1,600 * 02/05/2022 5:55:13 pm (CST)
$1,550 02/05/2022 5:53:55 pm (CST)
$1,500 * 02/05/2022 5:53:43 pm (CST)
$1,500 * 02/05/2022 5:53:43 pm (CST)
$1,406 02/05/2022 5:53:26 pm (CST)
$1,356 02/05/2022 5:53:26 pm (CST)
$1,300 02/05/2022 5:43:12 pm (CST)
$1,250 02/05/2022 5:43:12 pm (CST)
$1,200 02/05/2022 5:33:16 pm (CST)
$1,195 02/05/2022 5:33:16 pm (CST)
$1,150 02/05/2022 4:43:22 pm (CST)
$1,100 02/05/2022 4:42:42 pm (CST)
$1,067 02/05/2022 4:42:42 pm (CST)
$963 02/05/2022 4:42:16 pm (CST)
$938 02/05/2022 4:42:16 pm (CST)
$825 02/05/2022 3:08:24 pm (CST)
$800 02/05/2022 3:08:24 pm (CST)
$775 02/04/2022 4:09:45 pm (CST)
$750 02/04/2022 4:09:45 pm (CST)
$725 01/31/2022 11:11:11 pm (CST)
$700 * 01/31/2022 9:11:23 pm (CST)
$700 * 01/31/2022 9:11:23 pm (CST)
$586 01/29/2022 12:29:46 pm (CST)
$561 01/29/2022 12:29:46 pm (CST)
$525 01/29/2022 12:29:36 pm (CST)
$500 01/29/2022 12:29:36 pm (CST)
$365 01/27/2022 10:31:41 am (CST)
$355 01/27/2022 10:31:41 am (CST)
$343 01/25/2022 4:56:06 pm (CST)
$333 01/25/2022 4:56:06 pm (CST)
$310 01/23/2022 3:35:14 am (CST)
$300 01/23/2022 3:35:14 am (CST)
$290 01/23/2022 3:34:59 am (CST)
$280 01/23/2022 3:34:59 am (CST)
$270 01/22/2022 10:20:40 pm (CST)
$260 01/22/2022 10:20:40 pm (CST)
$250 01/22/2022 9:18:01 pm (CST)
$240 01/22/2022 9:18:01 pm (CST)
$230 01/22/2022 5:25:38 pm (CST)
$220 01/22/2022 5:25:38 pm (CST)
$210 01/22/2022 2:22:08 pm (CST)
$200 01/22/2022 2:22:08 pm (CST)
$180 01/22/2022 12:23:30 pm (CST)
$170 01/22/2022 12:23:29 pm (CST)
$160 01/22/2022 10:34:48 am (CST)
$150 01/22/2022 10:34:48 am (CST)
$140 01/22/2022 10:34:12 am (CST)
$130 01/22/2022 10:34:12 am (CST)
$120 01/21/2022 10:25:09 pm (CST)
$110 01/21/2022 10:25:08 pm (CST)
$100 01/21/2022 8:58:01 pm (CST)
* Proxy Bid Battle: In the event of two customers inputting matching proxy bids, the leading bid goes to the earliest of the two proxy bids. Tie winners are shown in bold.