Description

This is a rather unique elbaite. The crystal has a black appearance, although is in fact a very dark elbaite with olive green and dark blue, visible under strong light. And the prism faces are a moderate lustre (silky-glassy). So far sounds pretty average. But the key is the termination: it is capped with a beautiful, highly glassy and lustrous sharp termination which is a beautiful blue – this makes the piece. Please note that the blue requires strong light to see – the third photo is strongly illuminated so you can see what I’m describing, but you need to be holding the specimen immediately under a strong light source to see it blue like this. The specimen is in excellent condition – a couple of edge chips visible under magnification, 1mm or less in size, not distracting. Nice contrast with the albite crystals at the base. A beautiful tourmaline with character.