Tourmaline with Quartz ex Kent coll.

Item Description

This specimen is part of the 2021 Dallas Mineral Collecting Symposium benefit auction, with proceeds benefiting Mineralogical Record, Rocks & Minerals, Tucson Gem and Mineral Society, and mindat.org. Thanks to all of our participants!

Billing for this auction will occur on Monday, August 23, for payment using PayPal or a credit card. Shipping will be billed at cost.

The historic Russian locality of the Malkhans has produced tourmaline for 200 years or more, but only recently in the last decade was the most professional specimen recovery project completed, on the accessible Sosedka pegmatite in the region. The deposit was mined to the bottom of the pegmatite and exhausted, and in the course of all that work produced some of the finest Russian tourmalines yet seen by specimen collectors for quality and aesthetics, due to the hard work and diligent care in excavating and following the pockets. This amazing combination specimen looks like a tourmaline gyroscope sculpture, with three robust red crystals gyrating on top of the sharply temrinated quartz point! WAIT - the quartz itself is doubly-terminated, which makes the whole piece a Floater, complete all around! This is a crazy specimen, for that reason - complete not 360 but 720 degrees around. It has only 2 repairs, one a lock fit and the other with minor restoration (epoxy invisible to the normal eye) invisibly added at the junction and a small section beneath. The color on these is a classic "siberite" red to maroon color, as it was known to the nobility collectors of the 1800s, very beautiful and glowing when backlit. This is an amazing specimen that stands out from pretty much all others in the find, for the geometry. Valued by the previous owner at $15,000 cost and $15-25,000 value, quite fairly we should say, it was in the well known collection of Jeffrey Kent. Jeffrey is the owner of the Ware Mine in San Diego. He specializes (now and then) in tourmalines, and particularly San Diego County material, and has a large tourmaline collection. Donation to the Symposium auction.