Tourmaline Green Cap Pocket

Unknown Owner

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This equant, intensely colored crystal is from the famous Green Cap Pocket of 1988, collected by John McLean working for Pala Intl. This is the crystal they kept for their own collection, amidst only a dozen or so good singles of this size. Pieces today are almost impossible to come by - I don't think I have seen more than 4 or 5 and only seen 2 for sale in any case (the last one, which was twice this tall, and perhaps also twice the mass, sold for 30k in 2004 and for more than that when it changed hands in Europe in 2007). These crystals, in person, have a more intense green cap and sharp definition of color bands than some seemingly similar material found in the older days of the Himalaya Mine (which is duller in color and has a less defined cap). Frankly, if you did not know any better and had not seen others from this ONE single pocket, you would swear this was from Afghanistan. The crystal has only very minor edgewear and is as pristine as you could really hope to get. It is a good, impressive size (large miniature/small cab borderline) and shows dramatically in a case. 225 grams