Morganite Beryl, Elbaite Tourmaline: Tourmaline King mine, Pala, California USA

Description

Species: Morganite Beryl, Elbaite Tourmaline, Cleavelandite
Locality: Pastel Pocket, Tourmaline King mine, Queen Mountain, Pala, San Diego County, California USA
Size: 9.5 x 8.5 x 7.5 cm.

NEW FIND! The historic Tourmaline King mine, famous for specimens such as the iconic “Steamboat” (Smithsonian Institution) collected over 100 years ago, recently produced a major pocket, in January of this year. This is the first major discovery (dubbed the “Pastel Pocket”) at this mine in over 100 years, and is the culmination of years of hard work by the current mine owners. I was lucky to recently obtain some nice specimens from this find directly from the people involved in the find. This is an excellent combination of gemmy peach-colored morganite crystals to ~2.5 cm with gemmy pastel-pink tourmaline crystals on a matrix of tourmaline and minor cleavelandite. One inconspicuous repair. A truly “juicy’ color combination from the aptly-named “Pastel Pocket.” Mark Cross photo.