Elbaite Tourmaline, Quartz, Lepidolite: Tourmaline King mine, Pala, California

Description

Species: Elbaite Tourmaline, Quartz, Lepidolite, Cleavelandite
Locality: Pastel Pocket, Tourmaline King mine, Queen Mountain, Pala, San Diego County, California USA
Size: 13.5 x 12.5 x 5.5 cm.

SOLD

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 a fine large combination specimen featuring  large quartz crystals studded with gemmy tourmaline crystals to ~3 cm aesthetically-nestled between the quartz crystals, along with purple lepidolite crystals and snow-white cleavelandite. A fine combination from the Aptly-named “Pastel Pocket.” Mark Cross photo.