Elbaite Tourmaline on Quartz

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To tourmaline specialists this striking multi-coloured Elbaite crystal sat on a Quartz crystal is an icon and a rarely seen one at that. This style of tourmaline was found at Sapo mine near Ferruginha, Conselheiro Pena, Doce Valley in Minas Gerais, Brazil in about 1998 but only one short flush of specimens came out, and finding ones on matrix are near impossible. This remarkable survivor comes from the collection of John A. Jones in England, a renowned caver and mine explorer who began collecting in the 1950s. Often referred to as 'blue cap' tourmalines, they were the second known occurrence of this type of tourmaline after the Himalaya mine in California. This beautiful stubby Elbaite tourmaline crystal measures 2.5 x 1.9 x 1.2 cm and is partly embedded in a large translucent light-grey Quartz crystal of complex morphology. The Elbaite crystal grades from raspberry-pink through aquamarine-green to a gorgeous electric-light blue cap. The crystal has a flat pinacoid termination with heavily ribbed prism faces. A choice, showy and now extremely rare Elbaite tourmaline from the Sapo mine, Brazil.