Fluor-Buergerite Tourmaline

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.

Fluor-buergerite is a rare member of the tourmaline group recognized by its overall bronze-brown color with a golden sheen and remains a unique and rarely seen tourmaline species. This Mexican locality is not only the type locality, it is also the only validated world locality with a few others purported in Europe and some dubious localities in South Dakota. This is a rich, aesthetic, display-sized specimen of fluor-buergerite. There are over three dozen lustrous, well-formed, doubly terminated, equant to elongate prismatic crystals from 3 mm to 1.2 cm on this piece that are either loosely clustered or well isolated. Crystals are the characteristic and pleasing translucent, bronze-brown color with golden highlights and contrast well with the pinkish tan matrix. The Mexquitic de Carmona Municipality produced one single batch of fluor-buergerite in the 1960s that came to Tucson and was never repeated...because the person who found it died before revealing the location. No additional material was found until Dr. Miguel Romero hired two exploration geologists to go looking for it again; and only a few specimens were found. We obtained this in the purchase of the Robert Trimingham Collection in the early 2000s (partnered with Rock Currier). I sold this to Jack at that time, for the same $1800 we will re-offer it here for. It remains a true rarity, in large size. Featured in the book Addicted to Beauty: The Legacy of Jack Halpern (Mineralogical Record, March 2025) on page 148, fig. 151.