Elbaite Tourmaline (Rubellite)

This particularly large and colourful columnar crystal of rubellite tourmaline has an attached milky quartz crystal. The famous Tourmaline Queen Mine, where this specimen was found, had been worked earlier but was reopened in 1971 to search for further tourmaline-bearing zones. Rubellite is the name given to the pink variety of elbaite tourmaline. It has a complex chemical formula – sodium, lithium, aluminium, boro-silicate.

This fine specimen was purchased from a visiting American mineral collector Elvis ‘Buzz’ Gray, a former co-owner of the Benitoite Gem Mine Lease, California.

Mesa Grande, California, USA. 5 x 3 x 2.9 cm. D.50250. Albert Chapman Collection.