Show us your favourite Tourmaline, Topaz, Beryl or Kunzite.

Thanks Marc.

Chamachu, Pakistan

Sorry about the delay in replying, but my account is playing up for some reason.......JolyonX(

Craig and other contributors, no wonder the first two words of this thread were "I love......". There have been some truely beautiful specimens seen.

If I can add a couple that please my eye:

An elbaite from Minh Tien mine, 5.5 cm x 6 cm.

Next two piecess from what I reckon is one of the most interesting and visually stunning places in Aussie land, i.e. the Gascoyne Junct., Cobra Dairy Road (road ha ha) to Mt Augustus. Along this desert track is an oasis called Yinnietharra Station and within a long stones throw, the Soklich open cut; at which a dig occurred recently, [www.mindat.org].

First, a plate of black tourmaline in mica schist from the first deposit and finally a "Coopers Stout" coloured "cricket ball" from the second. I am intrigued by the different colours of these dravites. The two deposites were several hundred meters apart.

Hi David,

Thanks for your kind words.

Those three specimens you posted have done nothing but enhance this thread. I have personally never seen anything like that elbaite, it's incredible. And well the aussie's, I have a soft spot for them, especially the dravites.

Thank you for showing them,
Craig.

Craig, that albite hugging the schorl is sweet! And funny enough I have a copy cat with spessartine, from the Little Three Mine, California, although definitlely not as nice as yours. ;)

Matt, stunning elbaite!

David, I was wondering about that gorgeous piece from Minh Tien, are you sure it is elbaite or could it be liddicoatite?

I've been toying with this idea for a while and finally got a chance to have some fun with it.

Here are some of my favourite tourmaline snacks :D



Tourmaline Cupcake (with quartz and mica sprinkles etc) - Malkhan pegmatite field, Transbaikalia, Russia, 40mm high, 30mm diameter
Rhubarb stick - Haapaluoma pegmatite, Länsi-Suomen Lääni, Finland, 40mm length
Mushroom elbaites - Mogok, Burma (Myanmar)
Cucumber & Watermelon slices and gummy candy fish - Brazil (no specifics available).
ok I know that's cheating with the fish, but they look edible lol


Bon Appetit B)
stephanie

Hi Stephanie,

Actually your comment puts more towards the identification of this piece; the label it came with had elbaite (liddicoatite ?), so perhaps I should relabel the said piece?

David

Hi David,

In that case I would leave the label as indicated, as there is at least reference to the liddicoatite. You could also label it elbaite-liddicoatite to cover both bases.

regards,
stephanie

Stephanie you are right, the specimen is Liddicoatite not Elbaite, i would lable the specimen Liddicoatite only.

Here are a couple of the Vietnamese specimens belonging Dan Weinrich that i photographed at the 2008 Tucson Show.

I know it is not the world's best specimen, nor the biggest, but I really like the fact that tourmaline is pleochroic. This is a picture of the same tourmaline. The only difference is that the polarizing filter has been rotated 90 degrees between the two photos. then I stitched them together.



Thanks for looking
Bob



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/2011 03:18PM by Jessica and Robert Simonoff.

Great pictures, Bob. Looking at tourmalines, apatites, beryls, and other pleiochroic crystals in ones collection through a polarizing filter can be an amazing experience. I'll have to remember to get one of my own.
Here's ay Himalaya Mine tourmaline. I wish I knew what it would look like through the filter.

Elbaite
Himalaya Mine
Mesa Grande District, San Diego County, California
8.4 x 2.8 x 2.5 cm

A very gemmy crossed pair of crystals from Pederniera. The taller crystal is 13.5 cm. Sorry for the photo quality.

This specimen is not in the same league as the other specimens depicted. It's not even in the same ballpark. However, it is my favorite topaz because it was self-collected in 1979 along the banks of the Poquonock River in Trumbull, CT USA.

Neil,

I have a similar Himalaya elbaite (5 cm tall), and this is what it looks like with through a polarizing filter rotated at 90 degrees.

Those photos are very cool, Jesse. I've got to get a filter pronto.

Thanks Neal, I had to do a beryl after you mentioned it


and



I wish we had a good trichroic specimen. I'd love to experiment with that

Bob

Great stuff Bob! Interesting photos all!

regards,
stephanie

The polarizing filter photos are great, but I bet such results can be obtained with many more types of minerals than have been covered so far in this thread. May I suggest starting a new thread for this as it is likely to draw new interest and is a bit off-topic as far as this original thread is concerned. I think some people that may have "checked out" from following this thread would be interested to see these polarizer photos under a new thread. We can keep both threads going!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2011 03:54AM by Keith Wood.

I scored these two Tourmalines (Povondraite) at the Warwick Gem Show in S.E Queensland on the Easter weekend,
l hadn't seen any around for a number of years, so was pleased when i saw a collector with a nice selection.

The size of #002 is 10cm high x 7.5 wide.
#003 is 12.5 high x 7.5.
l appologize that the last 2 pictures aren't great, i played around for awhile trying to get a better picture, will try again later to post better pictures,
the lustre is fantastic & i was happy that i could acquire them, l'm going to see if i can get more later.

Jesse & Neal how do you think the polarizing filter will work on these specimens? lol

Phil now your just showing off ;) that thing is a monster. Nice one mate, thanks for showing.

Hi Phil,

Another "aficionado" of the big black Western Australians is out there,
here be another attached. From the 2010 dig at Yinnietharra.
The specimen is about 55cm long X 35 cm high X 25 cm wide. All crystals are A1 intact.

Another big bopper from the same area.
[www.mindat.org]