Tourmaline (classic CA old-timer) Bob Reynolds Coll.

Item Description

A deceptive and classic "green-skinned tourmaline" from the famous Little Three Mine. The stout, very glassy, highly lustrous, well-striated 331 gram trigonal crystal appears to be mostly very dark green to black schorl in normal light. Backlighting reveals a striking beautiful gem 4 mm apple-green zone below the matte-black schorl termination. The middle portion is olive-green to schorl with the lower portion having more beautiful apple-green and olive-green translucent color. This is a typical style of large tourmalines for the locale, with the green verdelite tourmaline wrapped around a schorl core - and unique to this one mine in all of San Diego County;'s mineral wealth. Embedded cleavelandite blades on two sides add much depth, character, contrast and color. Complete all-around and essentially pristine, with only trivial edge wear. This fine crystal dates to the Louis Spalding collecting era of the 1970s and 80s. The Ramona District is unique to the region in producing major amounts of gem-grade and specimen-grade topaz and spessartine. See the 2002 Mineralogical Record article in Vol. 33, No. 5. Ex Bob Reynolds Collection, a well-known fossil and mineral expert and Curator of the San Bernardino County Museum. He passed away in 2020. An excellent and classic Little Three Mine tourmaline with accessories.