PINK TOURMALINE . ...

Description

PINK TOURMALINE
Konar (Kunar; Konarh; Konarha) Nuristan Province, Afghanistan
It is hard to reconcile the delicate pastel-pink coloration of this Tourmaline group with the mountainous and forbidding region of Afghanistan that produced it. That such a fragile treasure could pass through so many wild and desolate places and still manage to stay in one piece is almost miraculous. Even while growing, it was subject to the caprice of Nature. Originally attached by one end to a molten chamber wall; it was broken off while still forming and the broken end healed by continued growth, giving rise to terminal faces on both ends. In short; it is doubly terminated. In overall form, it is composed of a multitude of sub-parallel prisms with flat terminal faces on one end and pyramidal re-growth faces on the other. It bears a partial overcoat of lilac Lepidolite mica around the base. Looked at from the side, one can see a thin (approximately 1 mm) blue layer no more than 3 mm below the termination. Condition is uniformly fine with a little inconsequential nicking to an occasional crystal. Overall dimensions are 6 1/8 x 2 ¼ x 2 inches and it sits upright in a custom labeled base.

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