SOLD
PT13
Tourmaline (Doubly-Terminated Bluecap!)
Pala Chief Mine, Pala, San Diego, California, USA
Small Cabinet, 5.5 x 4.7 x 3.0 cm
Ex. Irv Brown
SOLD
This 157-gram hefty crystal is REALLY important for the locality. It was collected by Bob Dawson (son of White Queen owner Norm Dawson) 6-7 years ago in an erratic pocket which produced 6 good specimens. This is a totally unique find for the Chief Mine. This one features a 1-cm-thick rich zone of transparent blue tourmaline, atop the classic pink Stewart body. It is complete all around and is even doubly-terminated on the bottom. It is undamaged save for the fact that it is cleanly repaired near the top of the pink zone, where the cap had split off and is now reattached (it's a pretty good repair job and a tight fit). A secondary crystal sticks out the top like a dimple. Sold by Dawson to John Stimson to Chuck Houser to Irv Brown. I obtained it from Irv Brown but it got mixed up in a large batch of crystals I sent out for cleaning and when I got it back 4-5 months later, I mistakenly switched the two and put this one in the last update of Stewart Mine tourmalines (from which it is now removed) and never posted the legitimate Stewart bluecap (also a rare critter, now sold). Luckily, the mistake was caught by Houser and Brown and corrected!