Lepidolite/Cookeite with & after Elbaite Tourmaline

Item Description

This is an incredibly interesting piece that represents a Lepidolite/Cookeite cast after a larger portion of an Elbaite Tourmaline crystal with subsequent regrowth of Elbaite Tourmaline fibers inside the cast! Sparkling, yellowish Cookeite covers much of the exterior of the partial exterior of the earlier, larger Tourmaline crystals rind that is intact in places and partially replaced by lavender Lepidolite in other areas. The entire interior wall of the earlier Tourmaline cast is also covered in scintillating, yellow Cookeite, however, there is an added bonus here on the interior of this cast! There are three, very thin "shelves" of Cookeite that have hundreds of parallel fibers of pinkish Elbaite Tourmaline in columnar bundles that grow from the top to the bottom of the "shelves"! This fine pseudomorph exhibits some of the best textures and colors representing the paragenesis/replacement of the original Tourmaline crystal...or at least part of it! Very cool! A lovely sparkly-pink iridescence or flash to the lepidolite surface. The lepidolite has nearly completely replaced a large, columnar tourmaline! Just a super, and rarely, terminated example of a lithium rich mica somehow replacing a much harder lithium rich tourmaline. These are truly things to puzzle the mind!