Tourmaline var: Rubellite in ''Lepidolite'' (historic specimen)

Item Description

A lovely, colorful association specimen from the famed Stewart Lithia Mine in San Diego County featuring a "spray" composed of rich pink colored Rubellite Tourmaline, embedded into soft silvery-purple colored "Lepidolite" Mica matrix. The largest Tourmaline crystal measures about 3.0 cm long. The piece is an antique as it dates back to the collection of Robert Linck who died in 1970, but there's also a label from the legendary mineral dealer, Hugh A. Ford. Since the label has Ford's New York address, it dates the piece to at least 1946-1957. There is also a label glued to the specimen which has the name A. Foote written on it, a reference to famed mineral dealer Albert Edward Foote, who was a major mineral collector and dealer during the late 19th Century in the United States. Harvard's website states, "By the time of his death in 1895, he had one of the largest and most successful mineral dealerships in history, boasting "the largest stock of minerals in the world.". A beautiful specimen of this iconic material from this desirable San Diego County locale.
Ex George Loud Collection No. 61.3.1.8 CA.4; 6525 George (born August 16, 1942) is a well-known mineral collector from Washington, DC and South Carolina respectively, and was a patent lawyer by trade for over 50 years. He assembled one of the great mineral collections in the U.S., comprising worldwide specimens, and in later years he sold the worldwide specimens to focus on minerals of the United States, specifically locality suites with an emphasis on amazing representation of species while still maintaining fine quality. The specimens remarkably range from micros to all the way up to large cabinets in size. We recently acquired most of his impressive 9000+ piece collection, and the VAST majority of these pieces will be offered here in the auctions, as we feel that everyone deserves and equal opportunity at acquiring these important, well-documented and fine quality specimens for their collections.
See: https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/george-loud for more information