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

Description

Species: Elbaite Tourmaline, Quartz
Locality: Pastel Pocket, Tourmaline King mine, Queen Mountain, Pala, San Diego County, California USA
Size: 5.5 x 4 x 3 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 fine specimen features a gemmy green to pink 2.4 cm tourmaline crystal attached to a pale yellow ‘floater’ quartz crystal. A fine combination from the Aptly-named “Pastel Pocket.” Repaired 1x. Mark Cross photo.