Detailed Description

Fine, well-defined dravite crystal. The prism and top termination faces are  bright and glassy, although the photographs don’t convey that.  One large chip at the bottom on the backside, but obviously out of view. Very nice specimen.

About These Dravite Tourmalines

These dravite tourmalines from Serra Branca, Brazil, are sharp crystals!

All of the crystals are doubly-terminated. The prism faces have a bright lustre, like black opaque glass. Under bright lights (such as the photography lighting), a few subsurface glints of internal brown are visible in some, but under normal lighting, to the eye the crystals look essentially black and opaque. The termination faces vary, with many showing a slightly silky lustre and delicate texture. Most of these are crisp, simple crystals (they really look like idealized crystal models!) and some have a bit more complexity to them. None of these crystals are perfect all-around – they have a little edge wear or minor nicking in some place or another – however, these are high quality specimens and they are the best of the lot.

These specimens were collected in the 1990s and they were squirrelled away in Brazil. Frank Melanson had analysis done to confirm that they should be labeled dravite.