Description

A beautiful doubly-terminated crystal of elbaite (tourmaline), variety rubellite from the Himalaya Mine. This crystal is sharp and lustrous, with colour zoning from a fine medium pink to a darker burgundy. The crystal is actually a parallel growth, with two crystals visible at one end, giving the overall shape a more flattened appearance than is typical of trigonal crystals.

This elbaite crystal is an excellent illustration of tourmaline’s hemimorphism (the crystal forms are different at the opposite ends of the crystal axes – the one termination is more steeply pyramidal while the other is comprised of shallow-angled terminal faces).

From the Pete Richards collection, acquired March 10, 1994.

About Pete Richards (click here)