Elbaite Tourmaline and Quartz with Albite var. Cleavelandite

This showy and interesting, fairly large cabinet specimen features Elbaite Tourmaline with Quartz, Albite and the platy variety of Albite, Cleavelandite. It is from the Shigar Valley in the Skardu District of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and displays well the crystals habits of all four components. A 10 cm long, opaque, dark bottle green Elbaite crystal bisects the specimen, lying almost horizontal through the middle. This prism has a flat pinacoid termination which across the final few millimetres becomes a limey translucent green. At the base of the Elbaite is a both a block and a well terminated crystal of colourless Quartz. Underlying the Elbaite, and so forming the matrix, is reasonably well crystalised Albite Feldspar, forming several well-defined crystal faces. Large areas of this are overgrown by Cleavelandite blades.