Schorl with Quartz

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Schorl Tourmaline from Woolley Farm, just north of Bovey Tracy in Devon, is right up there amongst the British classics and is a 'must have' locality in any collection of British minerals! The specimens were discovered in a near-surface pegmatite cavity in about 1815, just around the same time as the Battle of Waterloo. It is reputed that farm labourers were digging out a pond to create an additional source of water on the farm when the mineralised pocket was encountered. I've dug out two ponds in my time and never had such a strike - life is not fair! The stubby, well terminated Schorl crystals occurred with Quartz and Fluorapatite, although the labourers who sold the specimens tended to break off the Fluorapatite to "improve" the specimens' appearance!!! This miniature example has a lustrous Schorl crystal to over 2.5 cm wide attached to a matrix of iron stained Quartz, plus two or three euhedral Quartz crystals. Another, less showy, Schorl crystal sits adjacent to its counterpart. A super miniature example from this enigmatic locality. This specimen is ex. the Mike Brooke Collection.