Tourmaline (note - $999 reserve item)

Item Description

This is a killer, and I mean KILLER, miniature from what Steve calls the Lipstick-Pocket of Cruzeiro tourmalines. It shades from green through blue and clear, to a cranberry cap. This came out in the early 90s while he was teaching in Rio, and Steve drove into the interior and bought the entire pocket at the time, keeping extras for trade stock and resale. However, he sold all his extras off a long time ago and kept the best - among them, this superb miniature. He kept, until recently, thumbnail AND miniature AND larger examples of every pocket he had bought down in Brazil, and had suites in each size range. Photos do NOT convey the incredible transparency, glassy luster, and color intensity of this crystal. The stark separation of the zones and contrast of the colors is riveting, in person. It comes with his label marked in his hand, $1500, which is what I paid in retail-for-retail trade to him for this exchange. Thus, I am offering at lquidation auction starting as a $999 item with $20 increments, as I paid much more for this one than for other pieces in this auction set.