Tourmaline in Quartz

Tourmaline is one of the most popular minerals amongst single-species collectors and collectors in general.  This is because of its never-ending variation in colour combinations and wide range of mineral associations, resulting from the complex chemistry of water-rich pegmatite melts.  This gorgeous example contains long gemmy Tourmaline crystals, the colour of fresh rhubarb.  These are partly embedded in a solid block of milky translucent Quartz whose outer euhedral (developed) faces are coated with a pure white film of what is probably Albite Feldspar.  It is against this white film the six bicoloured Tourmaline crystals are set, making a quite different and aesthetic foil to the rhubarb-red prisms and the teal-tinged sage-green terminations.  The six beautifully developed Tourmaline crystals range from 5.2 cm down to 1.3 cm tall, although the latter is by far the baby of the group!  Each Tourmaline has an undamaged flat pinacoid termination whose caps vary in texture from micro-stippled matt to crackled semi-lustrous.  A quite superb display piece!