"Blue Cap" Tourmaline (Sinkankas Pocket - circa 1955) - image 1

"Blue Cap" Tourmaline (Sinkankas Pocket - circa 1955) - image 2

"Blue Cap" Tourmaline (Sinkankas Pocket - circa 1955) - image 4

"Blue Cap" Tourmaline (Sinkankas Pocket - circa 1955) - image 5

"Blue Cap" Tourmaline (Sinkankas Pocket - circa 1955) - image 6

"Blue Cap" Tourmaline (Sinkankas Pocket - circa 1955)

Unknown Owner

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This is a complete rare San Diego tourmaline crystal with typical "blue cap" color of a hot red body and a blue termination (gorgeous, when even minimally backlit in a case or against the sunlight). 125 grams. Although it is a BLUECAP from the famous Queen Mine, it is unusual and very rare in that it is NOT from the famous onetime find found when it was owned in the later era by Bill Larson and Ed Swoboda! This is from an earlier time, and dates to the mid 1900s when John Sinkankas, Josie Scripps, and others were prospecting all the old mines in San Diego for fun and hobby. Bluecaps from the 1972 find are - rightly - legendary. This is something that looks the same but is subtly more rare. To my eye, it looks the same. To the eye of Bill Larson, former mine owner, he spotted it immediately without hesitation, that this was the earlier find - of which almost nobody is aware of, today. This is, therefore, a special miniature specimen from notable southern California collectors Bob Bartsch and Rock Currier. It was ironically known as "Rock's BlueCap" even though he acquired it in Bob's estate and assumed it was from the 1972 pocket. Most were larger in the 72 find, so this always stood out as unusual for the unusually saturated color in the size range, and actually finding a miniature is actually harder than finding a larger crystal (all of which, if decent, cost upwards of $100k anyways). These are really hard to photo. They do admittedly look dark in room lighting but they glow with light, and the combination is both unique and iconic, treasured among most collectors who know of them.