The great play of nature with color, light, creation from a small set of elements - an endless variety of minerals - all this seems to tell a person that everything here on this earth is created for creativity!
Today we, dear readers, will once again turn our hearts and eyes to the world of tourmalines. I began a series of articles about this incredible family of the mineral world, I wrote about the most remarkable representatives: fiery rubellite, beautiful Paraiba, mysterious indigolite.
The name tourmaline comes from the Sinhala word “turamali”, which means “stone of different colors”. It belongs to a large group of boron silicate minerals that share a common crystalline structure and similar physical properties but differ in chemical composition.
Tourmalines are beautiful in cutting and decoration:
But there are finds that are so beautiful in their original form that they become museum exhibits! To obtain tourmaline without damaging it is a great success.
It's time for you and me to see these unique finds, so, as usual, 10 amazing ones (actually a little more):
Tourmaline from Siberia
The Malkhan deposit is familiar to lovers and collectors all over the world - tourmalines of a deep, dramatic scarlet color are mined here:
Blue mountains, purple peaks
Tourmaline from Afghanistan has a unique color - a turquoise center on a lilac-violet base with raspberry-lilac tips. Almost in a single copy.
It is in Afghanistan that tourmalines of unusual color combinations are found, which are not found anywhere in the world, here is another “unicorn” of the world of tourmalines, atypical colors - turquoise and pink, as if a gentle dawn froze in this inflorescence of crystals:
Brazilian giant
The Sapo mine is famous for its special tourmalines. One day, in February 1997, a very unusual situation occurred at the Sapo mine: three pockets with valuable minerals were opened underground, all three were very close and contained tourmalines, BUT they were very different from each other:
- in one pocket were the famous Sapo “Blue Cap” tourmalines - with a blue cap,
- in the other there are small blue crystals of indicolite,
- and in the third there are giant tourmaline crystals.
These huge tourmalines were called "brushes" because of their complex shape, but immediately after being extracted they disappeared! There was no photographic evidence of them - only stories about how large the crystals were.
Apparently, at some point these tourmalines were taken from Brazil and ended up in the Hoppel collection, where they remained out of public view, isolated in a private museum. Many years later, the collection was presented at the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show 2013, a mineral dealer confirmed the origin of these tourmalines.
This is the largest tourmaline from this pocket (the second largest crystal is also in the Hoppel collection) - its impressive height is 40 cm. This giant group consists of many sub-parallel crystals with pink bases and cores, which were covered with transparent blue-green tourmaline, transitioning into a light pastel blue-green at the very tips of the crystal, which creates the impression of snow-capped mountain peaks.
Tourmalines with Blue Cap
This type of tourmaline has a special place in the hearts of collectors, they look very nice, the top of the multi-colored stone is crowned with a blue zone, which is called the “blue cap”:
Is this rare mineral worth $1,2 million?
Long ago, beneath the surface of the earth we now call Brazil, a thin blade of pink tourmaline, a semi-precious stone, pierced the top of pink and blue tourmaline, creating a miracle of nature. The unusual specimen found in the Pederneira mine in 2011 was so special that it attracted the attention of a lot of people. It was offered for an incredible $1,2 million.
Arctic Ocean
Indigolite always attracts the eye. This specimen looks amazingly like a column of frozen ocean wave with white foam!
Location; Cruzeiro Mine, Sao José da Safira, Doce Valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Kaleidoscopic mineral clusters
Lepidolite, albite, tourmaline from the Malkhan pegmatites, which in the Trans-Baikal Territory (Russia) look like a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of colors!
This sample of liddicoatite is from Russia.
Elbaite cross
Extracted from the Himalaya Mine, Mesa Grande, San Diego, California. This fusion of crystals is a rare and lucky find!
Another example of cruciform fusion of tourmalines, studded with lepidolite:
tourmaline cat's eye
Collectible, rare sample. An oval cabochon with a strong iridescent center or cat's eye effect and a wonderful dark turquoise color. 13,19 carats and dimensions 15,97 x 10,61 x 9,91 mm.
Stunning aqua tourmaline spray with navy blue accents
This ancient example was found in the Santa Rosa mine, Itambacuri, Minas Gerais, Brazil. And he became a sensation thanks to this fusion of crystals! Size 9x6x6,5 cm.
Tourmaline "Steamboat"
In 1907, the famous crimson mint tourmaline was discovered by Frank Barlow Schuyler in San Diego County in a rich tourmaline pocket zone of a mine that was named the "Tourmaline Queen" in California.
See the gallery with tourmalines turned by stone cutters into animals, birds, and flowers:
