Detailed information
Species
Tourmaline, Albite Feldspar
Dimensions
63 x 24 x 20
mm
Locality
Himalaya Mine, Mesa Grande San Diego County California, USA
Condition
No recorded repairs
A beautiful small cabinet specimen of Tourmaline from the Himalaya mine at Mesa Grande in San Diego County, California. The ex-matrix, 6.3 cm tall prism is a fine translucent-gemmy strawberry pink topped by a deeply hoppered and striated pale sage greenish white multi-termination. The prism sides are characteristically vertically striated and scattered over one face are several tiny sprays of white Albite Feldspar crystals. Himalaya mine began in around 1898 and was one of the largest producers of high quality tourmaline throughout most of the twentieth centaury in North America. It worked a lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) granitic pegmatite highly enriched in boron, the primary constituent of tourmalines. It's a charming example from this famous and historic mine.