Muscovite pseudomorph after Tourmaline on Quartz

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The two original crossing Tourmaline crystals became a template for a rather unusual, showy pseudomorph: or, perhaps an epimorph instead, depending on how much the Muscovite replaced the original crystal, or if it is only a coating over still-intact Tourmaline. The enduring mystery of such examples! This kind of pseudomorphosis/epimorphosis is unusual, especially at this scale. It features a criss-cross of two extremely large prisms crystallizing from a bed of Quartz matrix, with the barnacle-like Muscovite forming mainly in bundled clusters, or books, with the lamellar layers growing parallel together in typical fashion. The C-axis faces of the Muscovite are remarkably lustrous, almost metallic. This specimen comes with a custom acrylic base.