Tourmaline (ex Dave Bergman Collection)

Item Description

Here we have a toenail sized old-time Tourmaline crystal from an undisclosed locality in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The lower portion of piece is VERY GEMMY with a vibrant green hue, and the termination has a starkly contrasting soft pink hue, with a "cat's eye" effect. The termination shows first and second order pyramidal faces, creating a somewhat "bullet" shape. The piece dates back close to 50 years ago, and is a wonderful example of what the crystals from Brazil looked like when they were coming out back then. Specimen weight is 17.70 grams. This piece comes from the collection of Colorado mining legend, Dave Bergman. Dave is now retired from mining, but spent many years underground, including as the foreman and primary person in charge of recovering specimens at the famous Sweet Home Mine near Alma, Colorado during the late 1970s. He is also the maternal grandfather of Brian Kosnar. See Dave's photo mining at the Sweet Home on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures".