Elbaite Tourmaline

Unknown Owner

Help improve this recordNo owner is registered for this specimen yet. If it's yours or you know more about it, you can add the owner, provenance, publications and other details.

This is a gorgeous, tri-color Elbaite Tourmaline crystal from the well-known Sapo Mine in Brazil, from the shocking discovery here of the late 1990s that was one of the first "modern pockets" of the internet era. It set the mineral world on fire at the time! This pegmatite produced these uniquely colored and zoned crystals during 1997 mining efforts. The breathtaking crystal combines the two best qualities from this find: horizontal zoning and its watermelon character. The glassy crystal has a thick core of saturated pink that is discontinuously jacketed by green - discontinuous in that the beautiful pink color is very apparent in the back and one side of the crystal! Proceeding vertically through this stout crystal, the pink sharply transitions into a whitish, 5 mm thick, translucent achroite zone then into a saturated, gemmy, teal blue zone and then capped by a sublime, thin, vivid blue cap so diagnostic of this find! Two small, 3 mm clusters of silvery Muscovite accent this choice crystal. It has a mass of 37.9 grams and comes with a custom engraved acrylic base. From an old collection, obviously, as there are essentially zero examples on the market of any quality. Again, this has, for context, one of the most thick and intense blue layers on a Sapo Bluecap that we have seen - and we were there when they came out to see many. It is a shockingly beautiful miniature.