Tourmaline on Cleavelandite

Item Description

This is a gorgeously colored, stout, lustrous and translucent elbaite perched nicely on ivory colored cleavelandite. The contrast and balance is what you would wish for in a specimen, and it is without repair. The elbaite measures 5.7 cm in length and exhibits a rose pink color except for a 1 cm thick rich green band at the termination. This is CLASSIC old Afghani style, and rarely seen today especially at affordable prices. This specimen looks like a $10k piece from the front, in my opinion. It has an unfortunate contact - not damage, but a growth deformity - that makes the back slanted. In today's high end $$ market, this takes it down a level in price to more like a $2500 value in my opinion. From the front, however, you'd never know the crystal did not compelte itself in back, though. AND, the contact is what it is - not damage, per se. Just a naturally constrained growth. It looks gorgeous on a shelf with minimal backlighting only needed to show off its colors.