TOURMALINE (ELBAITE)

An off-matrix group of Elbaite Tourmaline crystals, chiefly in parallel growth, but with one 4.9 cm tall crystal diverging slightly on one side.  The crystals are mainly gemmy towards their terminations (in the green sections), allowing a blurred image of text, when held behind the crystal, to show through.  From the pegmatite body to the south of the village of Paprok in the Kéhi Dara Valley of Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, the Elbaite crystals are colourless to pale milky-white blushed very pale pink from their base for just over 2 cm. From here to the termination, the colour becomes a striking pale lime to peppermint green.  The terminations are complex, showing partial splitting to multiple terminations and in places, faces of the pinacoid have been etched back and coated with recrystallised Elbaite.  A very attractive specimen from Paprok in Afghanistan.