Elbaite Tourmaline with Lepidolite - image 1

Elbaite Tourmaline with Lepidolite - image 2

Elbaite Tourmaline with Lepidolite - image 4

Elbaite Tourmaline with Lepidolite

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A bright, lime-green Tourmaline of classic style for this pegmatite from which a large production came out well nearly two decades ago. The translucent, bi-color green Elbaite crystal measures 6.3 cm in length and has a bright lime-green body and a 4 mm thick, darker lime-green cap terminated by a flat pinacoid. A winding cluster of lavender to tan, 2 to 3 mm crystals of Lepidolite (Polylithionite) spirals around the Tourmaline crystal from bottom to top in a very sculptural manner. It also seems the core of the Elbaite crystals has been partially replaced by Lepidolite (Polylithionite). An aesthetic piece from the classic find at the Urubu pegmatite in Brazil. Really unusual aesthetics! Featured in the book Collecting Pseudomorphs: The Changelings of Mineralogy (Mineralogical Record, January 2025) on p. 67, fig. 12. Part of an educational set, with these additional items: Lepidolite (SYP25-05a) and Lepidolite (Polylithionite) replacing Elbaite (SYP25-05b).