Elbaite var. Rubellite on Lepidolite

Item Description

The Jonas pocket of 1978 produced literally a shocking wave of excitement in the mineral world. It remains the highest valued (literally), most legendary pocket of tourmaline in history, to this day. Specimens are only found in old collections. And, thumbnail singles are common but anything truly special is simply rare as hen's teeth because the miners cut so much of it, and seldom kept thumbnail sized minerals in any case. It is an extraordinary aesthetic thumbnail of two classic Jonas mine Elbaite crystals from the uber-famous find of the late 1970s, both sitting on clusters of Lepidolite books. The Elbaites are a perfect gem raspberry red, with excellent luster on the striated faces, and both crystals are gemmy. Additionally, each crystal has a different type of termination, which adds greatly to the mineralogical interest (and is characteristic of many Jonas clusters). The largest Elbaite is 2.5 cm long. Jonas mine Tourmalines are considered to be among the ultimate examples of the whole species and the hardest to obtain on the market today, and this thumbnail rates high among those. It is as aesthetic as you could possibly want and in my mind IS simply one of the finest imaginable thumbnail-sized examples from this famous pocket, because of the aesthetics and sparkly beauty here. It is a MAJOR specimen, for any thumbnail collection, and was my favorite in the Houran thumbnail collection of worldwide gem crystals - which we bought in 2015, when we sold this to Alex. Note that the specimen can be displayed vertically or at a diagonal, like a checkmark, which personally I find even more attractive. Ex: Allan Young, Boise, Idaho, with label; former Carnegie Museum specimen in addition to the Houran and Schauss provenances.