Tourmaline

Unknown Owner

An excellent tricoloured Tourmaline crystal from Himalaya mine in San Diego County, California, USA. The 5.0 x 2.3 x 2. cm prism shows a characteristic curved triangular cross-section , vertically striated prism faces and grades from a pastel yellowish forest green lower zone followed by a crushed strawberry reddish-pink upper section, terminating with a leafy-emerald green pinacoid. The prism varies between translucent, transparent and occasionally gemmy. The Himalaya mine is one of the most famous mine in the USA having been discovered in 1898 in a gem-bearing miarolitic LCT-type granitic pegmatite. LCT pegmatites are rich in Lithium, Caesium, and Tantalum, but do contain various other rare elements; the element necessary to form many of the gem minerals this wonderful mine contained, and still contains!