Tourmaline w/ Lepidolite (old classic) Larson Coll.

Item Description

A classic and showy bi-colored tourmaline combination from late 1960s and early 1970s finds at the famous Stewart Mine. Pretty purple, classic for the locale, lepidolite nicely frames one lower edge of the stout trigonal tourmaline. The well-striated glassy crystal is translucent to transparent. Moderate to bright back lighting highlights the beautiful hue of colors and layering of this deceptive Stewart tourmaline. The core at the base is black schorl with a pink to green sheath. The body is a pretty pastel-pink followed by classic gemmy teal-blue and indicolite-blue zones below the frosted matte-lustre termination. Complete all-around. One termination edge has an excellent bit of hard-to-see restoration, which is certainly acceptable in the context of pegmatite species. Discovered in the late 1800s, the Stewart was mined for lepidolite for lithium into the 1920s. Pala International (Ed Swoboda and Bill Larson) purchased the mine in 1968 and successfully recovered fine tourmaline, morganite and kunzite until 1972. The mine was worked by other operators into the 2000s. See the 2002 Mineralogical Record article in Vol. 33, No. 5. Ex Bill Larson San Diego County Pegmatite Collection and long on display at his Pala International shop in Fallbrook. 92 grams mass. An excellent bi-colored tourmaline with lepidolite from the 1960s and 70s finds. Valued $2500