The Little Three Mine, near Ramona in the Ramona Mining District of San Diego County, was discovered in May 1903, yielding topaz, tourmaline, garnet, and lepidolite from pegmatite dikes until near-surface pockets were seemingly exhausted by 1909 . After decades of inactivity, Louis Spaulding and his son reopened the mine in 1955, recovering notable orange spessartine and blue topaz specimens through the 1990s. Combination specimens of quartz and tourmaline in this quality from the Little Three Mine are extremely rare. The tourmaline measures approximately 3.5cm tall.