Tourmaline (Fluor-Liddicoatite) (44.15 grams)

Item Description

One of the rarely seen "tete noire / "testa nera (black head) Tourmalines from Tsarafara Sud. The piece is stout, and it surprisingly passes light, which can be a problem for crystals from Madagascar once they reach this thickness. My two favorite aspects of the piece are the steep, somewhat jagged termination and the fantastic range of colors. First we start with the markedly black color that is only seen on the termination, which appears that it could only be a coating, but if you look closely, the color actually permeates into the crystal itself. With strong backlighting, a faint pinkish-purple hue can be seen beneath the black area. It is starkly contrasted by a soft baby pink hue at the top of the crystal that gives way to a pinkish-yellow then a true yellow color (arguably the most rare color in Tourmalines), but it takes an immediate left turn and instantly changes to a FIERY CHERRY RED hue about _ of the way down the crystal. It should be noted that true RED hues are not seen in Tourmalines from Madagascar, they always have some kind of pink or brownish tone, but this one has more of a red color than any other Tourmaline I can remember seeing from Madagascar. The crystal is finished off with a soft pinkish-orange color at the base. Lastly, in the close up photo, you can see a faint purple line of color running along the prism, a strange phenomenon for Tourmaline. No damage that I can see, and what distinctive and beautiful coloring! It should be noted that this crystal was sold to me as being Liddicoatite which was originally named after the gemologist Richard Liddicoat, the former president of the Gemological Institute of America. As of 2011, Liddicoatite is a "non-approved mineral species (it 's now called Fluor-Liddicoatite), but for the purposes of this crystal, I'm referring to it as Liddicoatite. Weigh is 44.15 grams. This piece was priced at $1,800 in the inventory.