Bubblegum-pinks are rare , for whatever reason, despite the produndity of other colors coming out of Afghanistan. A good bubblegum-pink tourmaline is just hard to get ahold of...and o matrix, almost impossible! This attractive combination piece features a 9 x 3.75 x 3 cm crystal perched dramatically next to a slightly smoky quartz, with both showing freestanding terminations unencumbered of the other. The smoky has a slight chip out of the back (not visible or detracting at all from the front), but is otherwise complete all around 360 degrees! The tourmaline is pristine, has no damage at all, and is ALSO complete 360 degrees except at its junction to the quartz in the lower half on onee side. The termination is perfect. There is one very clean repair only, on the whole specimen, to the tourmaline about 1.3 up from its bottom. You have to really look for it, to find it, the job is done so well. What really makes the piece, though, is the accenting white albite and purple lepidolite at the base of the smoky and tourmaline, nestling the two crystals and providing a contrasting base for them to jump out from. It is an exceptional combination piece that I first sold in the late 1990s and have been trying to trade back ever since to do more work on it (which was done, to trim it to this level). I have not see the like since, in this price range.

MUCH MORE GEMMY IN PERSON! These are rare things indeed, as I know from living nearby for almost a decade. Few collectors, even in San Diego County, own a crystal so large and sharp as this one. It is also exceedingly gemmy, MUCHBRIGHTER and more lustrous in person than the pic appears. The garnet measures 2 cm across at widest, and is COMPLETE and wellformed all around. MOST large garnets of this size are cracked, hackly, and just plain ugly because the pegmatite was so disrupted by movement and by acidic solutions that liked to eat garnets away and leave semicrystallized messes behind. This is a small miniature, but a fine one, of a quality that I can say you simply do not see for sale. By worldwide standards, many people consider these to be the finest spessartine gem crystals on matrix one can obtain, with the exception of a very few oldtimers from one small find in Marienfluss, Namibia. Certianly for the US collector, this is a critical addition to the collection. And a colorful one!

A gorgeous peachy-pink morganite crystal with INTENSE color (unusually deep hued!), perched on a natural pedestal of albite. The crystal is 7 cm and complete, not repaired, and is fairly translucent. This is a piece that looks impressive, yet does not break the bank to own. Few morganites are coming out anymore, from Afghanistan, and fewer still cthat are any kind of quality can be had in this price range. Luckily, we got it as a trimmer/fixer and were able to expose the crystal ourselves, from the confining matrix, to create a more aesthetic piece.

Afghanistan ain't producing like it used to, the reasons being fairly obvious, I think. It is harder to get material out, but also it is harder to access deeper deposits given the lack of infrastructure and risk of setting up longterm mining here. Pristine, large tourmalines have always been rare, though. This is a really nice piece, complete all around with absolutely no damage, and with minor matrix attached as an accent. You can ask for little more in a tourmaline of this style! This style is extremely colorful, though they simply are not gemmy - but i'll say that in this size range this piece is more translucent (at edges) than most. The termination is spectacular and unusual, even for this locality, as it is glassy and features a unique and rare purplish coloration atop. This specimen was purchased in the early 1990s from dealer Herb Obodda , who was bringing out the best at the time. He sold it to his nearby neighbor and friend, longtime collector Ed David (a prominent scientist who was , among other things, President Nixon's White House Science advisor and helped usher along the Apollo moon landing program). Ed built a diverse large collection specializing in display-quality specimens of all sizes, particularly rich with examples of the gem pegmatites of Pakistan and Afghanistan because of his proximity to Obodda in the days they started to come out. I purchased this piece with Ed's 1000-piece collection in 2005, and set the specimen back in storage for the future. It has never been shown (or even, fully cleaned) til now.