Tourmaline on Quartz and Cleavelandite

Unknown Owner

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This stunning, unrepaired tourmaline specimen is one of the finest I know of in its size class and style, a greencapped habit which is at the least absolutely classic for this region, perhaps even the most stereotypic form of tourmaline for this region. The crystal is translucent and colorful, glowing with an internal color even with only minimal backlighting. Except for the tiniest of trivial dings, it is for all effects pristine - which is remarkable for a crystal so exposed form matrix. The combination of colors in the crystal make it a great tourmaline, but the placement and matrix arrangement make it a world class specimen overall. The contrast of the quartz form and geometry, vs. the tourmaline, and contrasted so starkly against the white cleavelandite - its just as if it were glued together in a dream. The photo used for the Westward Look show poster (2009) is by Jeff Scovil, and is the same one used in Smale's book on his collection. The other photo is a Joseph Budd photo which I had made for publicity once I obtained the specimen recently. It is a world-class level of tourmaline specimen. No question about it. The price is correspondingly high, but that is how it must be to acquire such a thing and to exchange it from the Smale collection when it fits his own taste so perfectly. This piece was recently illustrated in the Texas collectors book and was briefly available again as part of a potential deal.