Description
From a locality that has not produced a great abundance of material, this is an amazing specimen: over 100 elbaite crystals on matrix. The crystals are distinctively zoned, each having one termination that is a deep pink and one termination that is much lighter. These tourmaline crystals are also textbook hemimorphic crystals (crystals with no central plane of symmetry, so the terminations are not symmetrical) – in each case the light pink termination is a flat pinacoid, and the darker pink termination exhibits three pyramidal faces. In excellent condition, almost all crystals are complete and undamaged (and the incomplete ones are minor). There are many small, sparking albite crystals in association. The tourmaline and albite crystals are perched on microcline (the straight sides of this specimen are cleaved microcline, not saw cuts). This is a particularly fine specimen for the locality.
A gorgeous display tourmaline from the John S. White collection – the white background makes the crystal colour stand out beautifully.
