This is a classic oldstyle Himalaya Mine crystal with a color that is more red-purple than pink-red as is more typical for the mine. It was , they think, mined in the Ralph Potter era (before the mid-1960s) prior to the ownership of Pala Intl. After mining, it went into the Perkin Sams collection in Midland, Texas, which later was donated to the Houston Museum of Natural History (and then exchanged back to the current Himalaya Mine owner Pala Properties in later years). The piece is fat and massive, at 150 grams. It has INTENSE color and practically glows when even minimally backlit. Again, in contrast to more modern pieces which tend to pink, this is a deeply robust hue with a very saturated coloration. It is complete all around, though it has a slight crack at the bottom and looks like it was held together by the adhered crystals of cleavelandite. I would have sworn this is not repaired, but the former owner does confirm that teh crack went through and it was repaired. The repair then, is so clean, that one cannot be sure on looking...and at the base, anyhow out of the display line of sight. The matrix associations of white cleavelandite and purple lepidolite really highlight the color and accentuate the piece. This is NOT just a typical quality pink Himalaya. Liberated from an old German collection at the Munich show some years back, this was long in the well-known tourmaline collection of Klaus Neumann.Joe Budd Photos

This large, 550-gram crystal is brilliantly lustrous, like glass; and has stunning internal brightness and clarity. It is very hard to capture with photos, for these reasons, and so will be better in person. The edges are razor sharp and almost pristine (which very few are in this size range). The crystal shows the typical etching on the sides, but whereas in most crystals that etching creeps around and mars the front or top faces, here those faces remain perfectly sharp and smooth. The piece is actually a floater, complete all around, with the bottom covered in a blanket of white lepidolite.Joe Budd photos

WEIGHT= 1555 grams (1.5 kilos or over 3.3 pounds!) I think we were all shocked when , to our surprise, monster blue topaz began to appear on the market early last year from near the site of the original finds in 1969, in Brazil. This monstrous crystal is miraculously pristine, unlik ea very few others of similar size I have seen from the find. It is one of the largest, to be sure - but more importantly than mere size , it is one of the largest that is intact and complete all around. It was protected when I obtained it when this lot came out, by a natural coat of lepidolite. We have removed much of the lepidolite to expose the crystal underneath. I have left enough at the bottom to provide a sparkling contrast to the straight blue faces abbove. Actually, the bottom is temrinated as well, under the lepidolite! You can hold it, turn it over, and clearly see that it must be a floater with terminations beneath. In person, this crystal has a glassy lustre and a stunning, DEEP BLUE color that is partly volumetric and so it is much more intense than in smaller crystals past or present. I would say, in fact, that this is one of the bluest blue topazes I have seen in museums and collections from the old find, or from this new find. It has a bit of opacity in the middle, but is mainly translucent - in the photos it appears less gemmy than in person. The sheer "heft" and visual impact of this piece, is stunning. It can be displayed from two angles the best, but is complete all around in any case. Comes with custom engraved lucite base, for easy display.