Vanadium Dravite Tourmaline

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Here is a large, stout, single tourmaline with amazing green color as it is a rare Vanadian Dravite Tourmaline species, and comes from the Nandonjuki area in Tanzania. This commanding crystal is just over four inches in length and almost two inches across! It is a slightly translucent deep bottle green to vivid chromium green and is prominently striated along its length. The faces and edges have good luster and are well-formed with some minor chatter along its length and some at the termination. The pyramidal termination is intriguing with two dominant faces and the bright emerald green areas near their intersection with the prism faces! There is also a small cluster of 2 to 3 mm, ivory colored Calcite crystals at the tip for added interest. It is contacted at the base with some fracturing up the sides from the bottom in two areas. This material was originally called Chrome Dravite, but it is now known that these crystals get their bright green color from trace amounts of vanadium, possibly with a small amount of chromium (see Mineralogical Record vol. 40, no. 5 - September-October, 2009). Hence it is now referred to as Vanadium Dravite and this is a whopper of an example! 318 grams. We have not seen a comparable in such size and without repairs or restorations