Elbaite Tourmaline

Unknown Owner

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Tangerine-orange Spessartine Garnets or blue Topaz immediately come to mind when the Little Three Mine in California is mentioned, but not a gem tourmaline! This is a deeply striated, medium olive green Elbaite Tourmaline with a steep, spearpoint termination! This isn't only unusual for the Little Three Mine, its morphology isn't typical for Tourmaline either. It is a distorted, flattened prism that's a little over three times as wide as it is thick and the faces are strongly furrowed by striations; a fascinating (and gem) crystal no matter where it is from. The termination of the Elbaite is even more unusual in that pyramid faces are very steep compared to what we usually expect, so much so that it resembles a spearhead! Overall a uniquely attractive Tourmaline. It has a mass of 5.9 grams and originates from the James Bowersox collection, and then was in the William Larson San Diego collection (Bill was the owner of the Himalaya Mine).