Tourmaline (interesting colors) (12.40 grams)

Item Description

An old time Tourmaline crystal from Virgem da Lapa in Brazil, a locality that is famous for its Topaz and Herderites crystals, but not necessarily Tourmalines. This crystal come with an old typed label from Jean-Pierre Cand of Geneva, Switzerland. My guess is that the crystal dates from the 1970s-1980s based upon the age of the label. Not only is this crystal from an uncommon locality (for Tourmaline) in Brazil, it also has an interesting combination of colors. The majority of the prism features what I would call a "silvery"-pink hue, it's almost a combination of rubellite reddish-pink with a metallic lavender overtone. As you transition down towards the base of the crystal, you can see it changes ever so slightly to a nearly colorless "Achroite" hue and then finishes with a deep black Schorl core that is surrounded by a very think rich chrome green hue. Internally, the crystal is very gemmy, nearly water clear in areas, which combined with the superior glistening luster and razor-sharp, well formed faces, creates an excellent miniature gem crystal display specimen. The textbook trigonal termination is just as lustrous as the prism faces and is just beautiful with the smooth, un-etched surfaces. A small sidecar Tourmaline crystal can be seen growing near the base of the piece. No damage, save the bottom where it was detached from the pocket wall. A beautiful example from this famous locality. Valued at $950 in the inventory. Specimen weight is 12.40 grams.