Tourmaline

Unknown Owner

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The Himalaya Mine was extremely productive and there are likely thousands of thumbnails, but nonetheless this is a special piece - the aesthetics and the gemminess are absolutely unprecedented in a Himalaya mine thumbnail. This comes to us from the Irv Brown collection, who was a County Collector, local to San Diego, and I know he pursued one worthy Himalaya thumbnail for a long time. This was found by mine owner Bill Larson, and then went to Irv Brown in a deal. It is 100% gemmy, clean, and happily bright inside without any of the "dullness" that often afflicts Himalaya tourmaline luster and clarity (sorry to say, that is the truth... compared to Brazilian material, they are just kinda dull). This piece, it sparkles. Complete all around. It is a "locality piece," in that it is significant as a location example and priced higher than it would be if from Brazil for example, while it might even not be significant if it were from Brazil or Russia. So it is clearly not for everybody and is priced a premium to be sure - but it is definitely for those who would appreciate the rarity of locaiton specimens in a suite.