Tourmaline

Unknown Owner

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Collected by, and from the important and long held personal San Diego County Collection of William "Bill" Larson, longtime owner of the Himalaya Mine, discoverer of the famous Queen Mine BlueCap pocket, and numerous other San Diego mining projects over the last 60 years and more. Just over a pound in weight (446 grams), this is one of the largest known complete and perfect examples from this pocket of famous and totally unique San Diego tourmalines called by the locals "beer cans" for the geometry and size. This was one pocket in the early 1990s, collected by Larson. He kept this for himself, not only one of the best but also one the biggest complete crystals with no damage or repairs. It is perfect, literally - shocking for this particular mine, which seldom gives up large unbroken crystals. Furthermore, this remarkable crystal is a floater, complete and doubly-terminated on both ends. It is much better in person, as it is hard to convey the combination of color, size, depth, and 3-dimensional heft in photos. It glows when backlit well!