TOURMALINE with QUARTZ & ALBITE on LEPIDOLITE: "BIG BEAUTY". Burkhard's Pocket, 2006. Pederneira Mine, São José da Sa...

Description

TOURMALINE with QUARTZ & ALBITE on LEPIDOLITE: "BIG BEAUTY"
Burkhard's Pocket, 2006
Pederneira Mine, São José da Safira, Doce Valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil

As Tourmaline specimens go, some are simple and uncomplicated; others, like this one, are a veritable carnival: a riotous mélange of colors and forms vying for attention, definitely a "Big Beauty." A former resident of Burkhard's Pocket, this rather large matrix specimen hosts at least 10 major Tourmaline prisms, some doubly-terminated, and a lot more minor ones, all rising from a mixed matrix of lavender Lepidolite and bluish-white blades of Cleavelandite. The tallest of the Tourmalines is some 5.7 inches (14.5 cm) in length, and there are several others approaching that size as well. Most of the Tourmalines show two to three colors in bands of various sizes along the length of the crystals. Commonly, they start with deep pink basal zones that abruptly change to a pale peach before moving on to alternating blue and green bands and culminating in terminations of either blue green or a dark olive green that appears almost black. Termination form seems to be evenly split between the planar blue-green type and the olive-green ones of complex faces. Mingling with the above mentioned matrix minerals are a number of water-clear Quartz crystals of excellent form. Condition is excellent for a specimen of its sheer size and complexity, there has been typical expert Pederneira restoration. When backlit, the specimen glows like Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras.
Overall measurements: 11.0 x 7.8 x 11.0 inches (28 x 19.8 x 28 cm)

Illustrated: Fong/Walker, M., Neumeier, G., & Walker, J. (Eds.). (2015). The World of Tourmaline: The Gerhard Wagner Collection. Dallas, Texas: Ivy Press. Page 122-123.
Illustrated: Keilmann, J., Bode, R., Hamann, S., et al (Eds.). (2010). Turmaline aus der Pederneira-Mine. Messekatalog 2010 Mineralienmontage: Brasilien, Salzhemmendorf: Bode Verlag. Page 39.
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