Elbaite

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.

The Pala District in San Diego County, California is world famous for its remarkable gem pegmatite minerals, especially its Tourmaline crystals. This gorgeous example is a 6.7 cm long, double terminated crystal of Elbaite with a transparent to translucent raspberry red prism body; terminated at one end lime green and peachy orange at the opposite end. The latter forms a more complex termination with bevelled edges grading to a flat pinacoid whereas the lime green termination is a simple, flat pinacoid. The green section is approximately 3 mm deep while the orange section extends to about 1.4 cm. The prism is heavily striated parallel to the c-axis and contains internal veils causing a dappled play of reds of varying intensity. A splendid Elbaite Tourmaline from the Pala pegmatites.\n