Tourmaline

Unknown Owner

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Wow! I NEVER KNEW such good, gemmy, fat indicolites came out of this mine! Yet, Bill did and he hoarded them when they turned up. Apparently they were found in the 1960s and collectors in San Diego pretty much kept them amongst themselves. This robust crystal has great color and with moderate backlighting only, it glows. With strong backlighting, it goes translucent. It is complete on the front, though has some edge damage on back faces (you can see this in the 2nd photo, right edge which is simply the rear in the first orientation shown). This is a most unusual, totally unique style for any tourmaline from the US, so far as I can think of, and reminiscent more of Afghani material than anything you expect to see from California. If you saw it outside of this context, you WOULD swear it was Afghani, not Californian. 184 grams