Elbaite

Unknown Owner

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From the front, this 4.3 cm tall, colour-zoned, gemmy, individual prismatic crystal of Elbaite tourmaline from the modern pegmatite discoveries at Coronel Murta in the Jequitinhonha Valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil looks magnificent, but why is it so much cheaper than comparable crystals? Well, this is where the video comes in, as although one side of this crystal is superb, the upper section of the rear has a channel across it where clearly another crystal had grown in contact. It is still terminated and with a nice classic three-sided sloping pyramid, but with one side adapted around where the other crystal had grown. The lower half of the crystal prism is complete too. Colourwise, it grades nicely from pale violet-grey at is base, upwards, through teal blue-green into pale pink and onwards up to an intense strawberry-pink with a deep raspberry-red tip. A fine, colourful, cheaper gem Elbaite crystal for those who don't mind a natural imperfection.