Tourmaline in Quartz on Albite, ex Smale

Item Description

This specimen is part of the 2021 Dallas Mineral Collecting Symposium benefit auction, with proceeds benefiting Mineralogical Record, Rocks & Minerals, Tucson Gem and Mineral Society, and mindat.org. Thanks to all of our participants!

Billing for this auction will occur on Monday, August 23, for payment using PayPal or a credit card. Shipping will be billed at cost.

Lustrous and translucent, this beautiful specimen is a polychrome assemblage of all the minerals from this famous locality, from old finds in Brazil. Ex Steve Smale collection, purchased in Brazil in the late 1980s or early 1990s when he was a resident professor there (and priced to be sold for $2000 at some time in the past when he did a few shows to move his deaccessions and culls back in the early 2000s). This large display piece has fantastic quartz on sparkly cleavelandite, with minor purple lepidolite accents. The GEM tourmaline pencil in front stands up freely for 3.5 cm of its 5 cm length, impaling the quartz. The larger, more robust, and colorful tourmaline is just about an inch tall. This is not a major tourmaline for the size of the crystals, but rather a beautiful combo piece that shows how such things form in pockets. Donation to Symposium Auction.