Name: Elbaite var. Rubellite
Brand: Crystal Classics
Price: 4000 USD
Availability: InStock

Updated 2d ago

Elbaite var. Rubellite

The Cruzeiro mine at São José da Safira in the Doce valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil is one of the most famous gem mines in the whole world. It started out in the early 20th century producing mica, but during the 1950s it shifted to producing gem tourmaline, and boy was it successful at it. Famed for its red Rubellite (a variety of Elbaite tourmaline) crystals it soon rose to prominence and now, several decades after its peak, crystals from there are now highly collectible. This superb Rubellite specimen from there is of a seriously impressive size (small cabinet) and shows a rich colour saturation. Forming an off-matrix divergent group of two main crystals (but with one of those being two parallel crystals), the largest of which is 8 cm in length, the parallel crystals present an extremely fine bright raspberry pink tip to their terminations passing downwards into darker cherry red/pink bodies with brighter patches. The terminations are almost flat pinacoids, but with pitted surfaces probably from natural etching. The main prism surfaces are quite glassy and bright and show classic vertical growth lines. The two parallel Elbaite crystals are by far the best in terms of shape and colour zonation. A true Brazilian classic.

$4,000.00