Tourmaline (GEMMY bi-color crystal)

Item Description

The Tourmalines from Pech are some of the most exemplary examples from any modern locality. While these crystals have been coming out for 30+ years, they are still regarded among the top examples of this beloved colorful mineral. This piece is a beautiful single crystal with excellent internal gemminess and light blue-green and pink coloring. Although the colors are of a pastel hue, they have a brightness that really glows in certain lighting. The termination has multiple first and second order pyramidal faces, creating a wonderful appearance. No major damage that I can find, and it's just no pleasing to look at. Specimen weight is 32.9 grams.
From the collection of Armon McPherson, a retired physicist, now living in New Mexico. Armon received his PhD from North Carolina State University in 1985, and worked at the laser laboratory at the University of Illinois at Circle Center. In the summer of 1997, Armon moved to the Argonne National Laboratory where he worked at the Advanced Photon Source, then the world’s largest synchrotron facility dedicated as an x-ray source. In 2001, he was asked to join a team at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque to conduct laser research for DARPA. Finally, staying within Sandia, he transferred to the Z Facility, the world’s most powerful x-ray facility. He retired in the spring of 2017. Armon's introduction to mineral collecting came in the 1980s during graduate school when he attended his first mineral show. He took up the hobby of faceting gems, and focused his early collection on gem crystals, and later transitioned into collecting non-gem species. We are proud to offer specimens from his worldwide mineral collection here for you.