Elbaite v. Indicolite Albite

A wonderful large indicolite tourmaline crystal fringed by snow-white cleavelandite albite crystals from the famous Dara-i-Pech pegmatite field in Afghanistan. Dari-I-Pech tourmalines were some of the first from the world-class Afghan/Pakistani pegmatite belt to come on the market, and with recent conflict in the region coupled with exhaustion of many pegmatite deposits, they have again become somewhat uncommon. This is a fine large example with beautiful dark blue to vibrant blue-green color zoning. At almost 8 cm, the tourmaline crystal is significantly large for the locality as well.

Photo by IFM.