Tourmaline on Albite (RARE loc.!) Josie Scripps & Larson Coll.

Item Description

An EXTREMELY RARE and aesthetic tourmaline on albite combination from the Columbia Mine, the OLDEST gem tourmaline mine in California. A striking 3.0 cm trident diverging spray of lustrous, translucent, dark olive-green, parallel-growth tourmaline crystals is dramatically set on the termination of a sharp albite crystal accented with cleavelandite albite blades on one face. The bit of tourmaline bruising has very minimal impact to the overall superlative quality of this combination rarity. Tourmaline was discovered here in 1872. Extensive mining took place until around 1899. Very limited mining and collecting took place until 1982, when new claims were filed and mining continued into the 1990s. Read more about the mine at: https://www.mindat.org/loc-8633.html. Formerly in the Josie Scripps Collection. Josie was a prominent California collector and benefactor of minerals and this comes with her label; and Bill Larson's handwriting on the back. Read about Josie at: https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/scrippsjosephine/. The mine was renamed Dick Kimbal's MIne sometime before Josie acquired the piece, probably in the 1980s and probably dates to that time period. Ex Bill Larson San Diego County Pegmatite Collection and long on display at his Pala International shop in Fallbrook. An exceptonal, old, RARE and sculptural Columbia Mine tourmaline and albite combination with a fine provenance. A MUST for the species or locality collector! Value?? We've never seen anything like it. These are simply not for sale at any price and we were fortunate to get this old collection of such treasures. When they are gone...they are gone~!