Gallery 7
Tourmaline Mineral Specimens
click
on image for larger view
T-191 Tourmaline variety Elbaite with Lepidolite $60
Urubu Mine, Itinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil
3.6 x 2 x 2.5 cm.
This crystal is not your run of the mill Urubu Mine Tourmaline specimen that there seem to be so many of, most of them opaque and unterminated. This is one of the better terminated crystals of this habit from this mine that I have seen. Three quarters of the Tourmaline has a center of milky Quartz, while the upper portion, while not gemmy, is pretty clear. Accenting this Tourmaline are several patches of Lepidolite.
click
on image for larger view
T-224 Tourmaline var. Schorl $80
Darre Pech, Kunar Province, Afghanistan
8 x 6 x 5 cm.
Here we have a chunky crystal of Schorl with overgrowths of Albite. The sides of this heavy crystal are beautifully striated and highly glossy. The top of the crystal has a nicely modified termination with six alternating glossy-and-matte-finish faces surrounding the top triangular face. Many of the terminal faces also show interesting growth hillocks.
click
on image for larger view
T-209 Dravite $40
Brumado, Bahia, Brazil
3 x 1.5 x 1.5 cm.
This reddish-brown specimen of Dravite Tourmaline is apparently a floater. In addition to several very clear Magnesite crystals, this specimen has a sugary coating of microcrystals.
click
on image for larger view
T-200 Wardite on Elbaite Tourmaline $165
Ponte do Piaui Mine, Itinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil
5.3 x 5.8 x 3.5 cm.
Here we present one of the rarer phosphate minerals in a very rare association. Sometimes, but not often, you will find phosphate minerals in a pegmatite environment. But rarely will you find them associated with Tourmaline. This spray of Elbaite has a cat's-eye like lustre and is crowned by a 6 mm. crystal of Wardite. The rear of the specimen features many Wardite crystals, the largest of which measures 7 x 6 mm. A great and unusual mineral specimen for any collector of Tourmaline or pegmatite minerals.
click
on image for larger view
T-201 Elbaite Tourmaline and Lepidolite $135 SOLD
Ponte do Piaui Mine, Itinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil
6.2 x 1.4 x 1.4 cm.
Here we have a bi-colored, Elbaite Tourmaline crystal with a cat's-eye like lustre. This crystal features many clusters of Lepidolite and is clear in several places showing a light-blue interior. This is one of those specimens that looks a lot better in person than in a photo.
click on image for larger view
T-168 Tourmaline var. Elbaite & Lepidolite on Cleavelandite SOLD
Coronel Murta, Minas Gerais, Brazil
10 x 9.5 x 5.2 cm.
This multicolored Tourmaline specimen is my favorite one from this update. This mineral specimen features a matrix of Cleavelandite crystals studded with and included by numerous intensely colored crystals of Lepidolite. Crowning this specimen is a base of green Tourmaline crystals, several of which have red terminations that are visible when backlit, atop which are a myriad of matted, hair-like crystals that get ever finer until they appear to have an almost velvet-like luster. Also present on this aesthetic specimen, in the upper right corner is a 3 centimeter Quartz crystal that is partially included by Lepidolite. A specimen worthy of anyone's Tourmaline collection.
click on image for larger view
T-156 Tourmaline variety Elbaite $135 SOLD
Stak Nala, Skardu District, Baltistan, Pakistan
5.3 x 1.4 x .9 cm.
In the past six or seven years, little of note has been found in the Tourmaline deposits of Stak Nala. These lipstick-like Tourmalines were found in the fall of 2007 and are quite different than the multicolored Tourmalines for which this location gained notoriety. When strongly backlit, the dark area of this bent, rehealed and slightly twisted Tourmaline crystal exhibits an olive-brown hue on its edges.
click
on image for larger view
T-111 Tourmaline
variety Indicolite $90
(double terminated)
Darre Pech, Afghanistan
4.4 x 1.4 x 1.1 cm.
A fine example of bi-colored Indicolite from Afghanistan that has been bent. Every time I think that I've seen it all concerning Tourmaline from Afghanistan, I am surprised by something new. These Indicolite crystals were found in the summer of 2006.
click
on image for larger view
T-122 Tourmaline variety Elbaite $100 SOLD
Mogok, Sagaing District, Mandalay Division, Myanmar (Burma)
3.4 x 1.5 x 1.7 cm.
This Tourmaline is different than most of the Burmese specimens that are seen these days. Most all of the Tourmalines from Burma are of the “mushroom” habit, this bi-colored Elbaite exhibits the classic Tourmaline form.
Tourmaline Mineral Specimens Page 1