The SteamboatAt nearly a foot tall this pair of red tourmaline crystals with green tips is one of th
The SteamboatAt nearly a foot tall this pair of red tourmaline crystals with green tips is one of the jewels in the crown of the Smithsonian mineral collection. It sits on a matrix of feldspar that crystallised in the guts of a volcano in the coastal mountain ranges of California. The tops of the volcanoes have been eroded away, leaving the underlying granites that are ex magma chambers and feeder systems exposed. There are several famous gem mines in the area, some still active, with evocative names to the gem lover such as Pala and Tourmaline King (where this specimen was mined in 1907 from an exceptional pocket some 10 metres by 4 that yielded 8 tons of pink tourmaline, mostly sold to China where it was carved into the buttons that distinguished the mandarins who administered the Middle Kingdom).LozImage credit: Duncan Pay/Smithsonianhttp://bit.ly/1FFQZnihttp://bit.ly/1eLfgfphttp://bit.ly/1UfxJ3A -- source link
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