Schorl and Herderite

Unknown Owner

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This is a strange and interesting pegmatite specimen from the Blue Chihuahua Mine in Riverside County, California. It features a 6.2 cm Schorl Tourmaline crystal that is lustrous and striated on one face and at the top termination while the main face at the front, one side prism face and the sheared off and then etched bottom of the crystal all have a coating of tan pocket clay with small Herderite crystals. Herderite is a rare calcium-beryllium phosphate mostly found in granite pegmatites. The Herderites are translucent creamy white, well-formed, elongate to equant monoclinic crystals with chisel-shaped terminations and are more prominent on the darger display face. An interesting aspect to the Schorl crystal are the one large and one small elongate slits in the termination that probably represent another mineral (Feldspar?) that were dissolve at some point during the history of the crystal. A very unique pegmatite combination specimen! This specimen was self collected by Rock Currier in May 1969.