Tourmaline - rare classic locality (Flynn Coll.)

Item Description

This is one of the earliest fine gem tourmaline finds to come to the Western market from the Namibian tourmaline location here, now long since become famous among collectors. The material went to Germany first and then spread to collectors through the lapidary markets, with some few crystals being saved from the cutting (and they were expensive, too, even then!). While the crystal has a darker skin, and a medium luster outside, the crystal rough within is bright and sparkly and as you can see by comparing the video (more frontlit despite a backlight) and the photos (which are backlit), it glows nicely when lit properly. Because the insides are so bright ("crystal" in gem terms), the cutting value is often higher than the specimen value, and therefore few crystals of this size have survived for collectors. This has been in the Shields Flynn collection of Namibian minerals (which we purchased a few years ago), for decades and preserved from the cutters. It is 80 grams, doubly-terminated, complete, with no repairs. Remarkable for the historic locality!