Detailed information
Dimensions
72 x 45 x 0
mm
Locality
Golconda Pegmatite Golconda district, Governador Valadares Doce Valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Condition
No recorded repairs
This fine, 3-dimensional aggregate of distinctive olive-green, silky prismatic tourmaline crystals comes from the famous Golconda Pegmatite, near Governador Valadares in Doce Valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Started over a century ago as a mica mine, it was only after the 1950s that the pegmatite were seriously investigated for their gem tourmaline potential. Perhaps not as colourful as some Brazilian tourmalines this does nevertheless have much to offer. Its individual crystals are all doubly-terminated, many with frayed, multiply-terminated ends, but others with flat, pinacoid terminations. Its most apparent feature is its distinctive silky appearance, where the green prisms are not only slightly colour-zoned but dappled in colour internally too. A quite pretty cluster of Elbaite crystals from Golconda.