Tourmaline with Lepidolite (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

For a moment, I honestly thought this piece might be Brazilian or from San Diego County, but it's actually from Afghanistan. Typically, the bubble gum pink Tourmalines from this area are seldom seen with such striking purple Lepidolite like this. A beautiful GEM quality, prism of Tourmaline (Elbaite according to the label) is sitting beautifully on crystallized Lepidolite. It must be noted that lepidolite is no longer a valid mineral species, and according to the scattered information we found, lepidolite is defined as a mineral in the so-called Polylithionite-Trilithionite series. We're still calling it lepidolite for the purposes of this specimen. When you backlight the piece, the Lepidolite groups GLOW with color as they are incredibly gemmy! A wonderful thumbnail of this classic material from Pech. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#9605). Kay is a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics (see the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien Velt" November-December 2017).