Tourmaline Carvings (matched pair)

Item Description

Here we have a hard to find, lovely matched pair of carved Tourmaline slices from the classic locality at Alto Ligonha, Mozambique dating back to the early 1960s. Specimens from this historic and beloved pegmatite locality are few and far between these days, and they are some of the most eye-catching polychrome Tourmaline specimens in the world when they were coming out. Good crystals were not terribly common even when the area was productive, and sometimes the broken crystals were sliced and polished to better show their beautiful internal coloring. This set features a matched pair of gemmy multi-color slices, which have been carved into flower shapes (they remind me of thistles - the national flower of Scotland) featuring a vibrant Rubellite reddish-pink hue in the interior surrounded by a thin colorless zone, and a greenish-golden shade around the periphery. A gorgeous carved set of these well-known and notably colorful Tourmalines. The total weight of the set is 12.01 carats.
From the collection of Richard Kosnar, who had the pieces carved from a broken crystal (that was later sliced and polished) from Manuel Bettencourt Dias.