Name: Tourmaline (rare locality)
Brand: The Arkenstone
Price: 3500 USD
Availability: InStock

Updated 2d ago

Tourmaline (rare locality)

San Diego tourmalines are famous the world over, and generally we all have heard of most of the old mines, some dating back to the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Sage/Anita/Red Mountain Mine (in nearby Riverside County), as it was variously called, is one of the rarest of all the locations there in the Southern California pegmatite zone, and produced some fancy red tourmaline, as early as 1910 or so (much of which went to China, see mindat reference https://www.mindat.org/loc-8455.html which gives us the following information: According to Mr. Harry Bergman this mine was operated in the early 1900’s. Mr. Bergman helped with the early development of this property when it was known as the Magee Mine - RBS personal communication, Harry Bergman, Aguanga, 1958). Between 1901 and 1914, extensive surface and underground development was made by avid gem prospector - Henry Magee of Pala. As much as 10 pounds of clear gem tourmaline was taken from the deposit and several hundred pounds of fractured, pink tourmaline were shipped to China for carving (Harry Bergman). Specimens such as this date to either that era, or a round of private digging in the 1950s and 1960s when it was officially abandoned but collectors scouted around the surface. This came from the collections of Jack Frost to Bob Dye, to Bill Larson; and was long in his personal San Diego County collection until we purchased the bulk of it a few years ago (including these pieces). While not complete in back, it is quite displayable and impactful in a case for size and breadth, especially when backlit. The hot magenta-red color is with strong flashlight backlighting, but normally it is of course dark due to thickness (final photo with no backlighting). A rare piece of SoCal mineral history. 261 grams.

$3,500.00