Elbaite (Tourmaline)

Although at first not obvious, this is a double terminated Elbaite Tourmaline measuring 6.7 cm from Coronel Murta in Minas Gerais, Brazil.  The striated prism terminates at one end with a shallow-angled, asymmetric pyramid of golden honey-lemon while the opposite, less recognisable termination is intense bubble gum-pink with a distorted sloping face showing a micro-crystallised surface and small secondary overgrowths of candy-pink Elbaite.  The intervening prism grades from the 2 to 5 mm deep bubble gum-pink latter termination through aquamarine-green, limey-leaf-green, again aquamarine then gingery-saffron and back into bright limey-leaf-green and then candy-pink before the lemon termination.  Wow, what a sequence!  The crystal’s optical quality ranges between translucent and semi-transparent with many gemmy zones, although these have wispy hair-like inclusions.  Adjacent to the more unusual termination, thin acicular Elbaite crystals to about 5 mm long overgrow a prism face for about 2 cm of its length.  A stunning Elbaite Tourmaline from Coronel Murta.