Tourmaline

Unknown Owner

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This is a San Diego "blue cap" with a pale gray-blue termination atop a hot-pink body core. 1972 saw the discovery of the Tourmaline Queen's 'Blue Cap Pocket', one of mineral collecting's seminal occurrences. While that pocket probably did not produce small crystals of this size - they were all bigger - this would have come from the same mine and the same geology, so it has the same look of its larger blue cap brethren. These Rubellites with flat, blue terminations are renowned, and the few that exist are highly sought-after and rarely available. This miniature is a lustrous and gemmy bright pink, with a pale-blue, classic termination. There is minor Cleavelandite and Lepidolite near the base. This is a fine and attractive miniature sized from this historic mine. Ex. Cal and Kerith Graeber, Stan Korfmacher, and Eric Fritz collections. Stan was an old local collector of note and would have gotten this himself directly from the source, as he was around SoCal when they came out. Cal and Kerith also kept a significant collection of San Diego miniatures and small cabinet pieces, for over 50 years, from which this came. Eric was lead show rep and education rep for the British gemstone organization Gem-A, and built a quiet collection of worldwide gem crystals with gemstones, on the side. It specialized in historic localities such as this.