Tourmaline Var. Buergerite

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Buergerite is a rare member of the tourmaline group recognized superficially by its brown color with golden internal flecks, found nowhere else in good crystals. The locality produced one single batch in the late 1960s, which came to Tucson. The person who found it died before revealing the location; and no more was found until Dr. Romero hired two exploration geologists to go looking for it again. Few were found, and Romero kept the best small and large specimens in his collection. This was the larger of his two specimens, and should be considered likely to be the best large plate of this material out there. This specimen from the Dr Miguel Romero collection was on loan exhibition to the University of Arizona Museum for over a decade, until my purchase of this collection in 2008. It was on display in special cases at the museum, and has since been featured in the book "The Miguel Romero Collection of Mexico Minerals" which we sponsored as a special supplement book (published by the Mineralogical Record in December of 2008).