Tourmaline (multi-color doubly-terminated crystal)

Item Description

A fine quality and classic crystal from this famous Tourmaline locality in San Diego County. The Himalaya Mine is one of the most well-known localities, not only in California, but all of the US. Some of the most distinctive and beautiful Tourmaline crystals from any locality have come from this mine. This piece is a fine, sharp, lustrous, doubly-terminated crystal featuring pyramidal terminations on end. I love the pattern of colors in this piece, as it's not the typical banded layers, but rather a more irregular style featuring an "L"-shaped stripe of stark green surrounded by light pink to nearly colorless "Achroite" hues. The piece is essentially a complete "floater", and when you look at one termination, you might think it's contacted, but it's completely re-crystallized ("re-healed"), so I can't find any real damage of note. A lovely example of these famous old crystals from decades ago. The specimen weight is 13.11 grams.
From the collection of George Elling, a prominent East Coast collector, with a classic label from the prestigious Smithsonian Institution.