Elbaite, Quartz, Albite

Unknown Owner

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Despite the fact that the Tourmaline group comprises more than a dozen species, and Tourmalines occur in virtually every color of the rainbow, yellow is one of the most rare and highly sought after colors for specimens. This specimen is one of the most interesting, unique and uncharacteristic Tourmalines that I have seen from virtually any world locality. This specimen was in the collection of Richard Kosnar, who purchased it from New Jersey mineral dealer Rick Smith in the early 1980s. It features a pair of very sharp, highly lustrous, thin, prismatic, GEM/gemmy, multicolored crystals of Tourmaline on a single very slightly smoky color Quartz crystal with minor Albite. Matrix specimens from Stak Nala aren't terribly common, but it's the coloration of the crystals that makes this piece so unusual. The smaller of the Tourmaline crystals has a rich olive-green to black color at the base with a bright pink termination, but the larger crystal has a very unique yellow zone spanning over 2 cm of this 4.7 cm crystal with the same olive-green and pink zones as the smaller one. Another impressive aspect of this piece is the fact that the terminations are highly lustrous, and not at all dull like so many Tourmalines from Stak Nala.