Elbaite

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This exceptional, individual, flat-topped prismatic Elbaite crystal from Paprok in Kamdesh District, Nuristan Province, Afghanistan draws attention whenever it is on display. Displaying the most remarkable colour-zoning from a bright bubble-gum pink body up through a majestic series of blue and pink bands just below its deeper blue termination - a blue cap - with backlighting this piece excels. The gem-bearing pegmatites at Paprok are famous for colourful gemmy Elbaite tourmaline crystals but most are narrow, pencil-shaped crystals in pastel shades of colour and few reach this level of quality. It is admittedly miniature in size, at 5 cm tall, but its width, and more importantly burst of colour, is what gives this crystal presence. Its termination is a flat pinacoid face, deeper blue from above and quite matt in appearance with gentle natural pitting, contrasting with the much more glassy, and colourful, prism sides with their classic 'tourmaline' vertical striations. The lower section of the prism with its intense pink colour is translucent, grading upwards into a more transparent zone where the blue bands appear. A gorgeous and spectacular Elbaite from Paprok.