Tourmaline (doubly-terminated)

Item Description

A classic example of the highly regarded “gem pencil” Tourmalines from the famous Himalaya Mine in San Diego County. The piece is from the collection of Brett Kosnar, the accomplished 4-time AGTA Spectrum Award gem cutter, who received it as a gift from his father in 1985. This piece is a beautiful, gemmy and lustrous doubly-terminated crystal, showing the classic Himalaya bubble gum pink throughout the majority of the prism, but small areas of green can be seen on each end. Even without backlighting, you can tell this is gemmy throughout. The Tourmaline is not repaired, and both terminations are in good condition, though one of them has a small area with an interrupted growth, but it is not damaged. You might be able to see there is a very thin sliver along the prism where the crystal was probably intergrown with another crystal, and they separated. It’s not damage, or a contact from mining, but what I would consider to be a “wrinkle” where it was obviously connected to something, even briefly, during its growth in the pocket. These specimens are beloved by collectors, and good ones are not easy to find on the market. A wonderful example of these classic specimens from San Diego County. Specimen weight is 11.8 grams. Valued $1,000.