Albite

At 5.7 cm in length and strikingly reflective and sharply formed, this magnificent alpine-type Rutile crystal from the famous Tormiq Valley in the Haramosh Mts., Skardu District, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan is an absolute classic. It has been repaired - across the middle of the crystal - but these gemmy, perfectly-formed prismatic Rutile crystals were discovered in the 1970s and 1980s and remain at the highest end of quality for the species. Rising like a monolith from a small chip of Albite and Aegirine matrix, the deep orange-brown colour is accentuated by a remarkable translucency for Rutile, and with its prominent vertical growth line striations and glassy sloping pyramidal termination could well have originally been mistaken for a tourmaline. A simply breathtaking Rutile and an absolute classic for Pakistan.