Tourmaline on Muscovite with Lepidolite and Albite, Ray Mica Mine, Hurricane Mountain, Burnsville, Yancey County, North Carolina, USA
The Ray Mine is a historic mica and gemstone occurrence near Burnsville, North Carolina, famous for its beryl crystals, aquamarine, tourmaline, and other species. Now located in the Pisgah National Forest, it is very popular with collectors. I acquired this specimen from an elderly gentleman/collector at a local NC show who had a small table set up in a side room off the main hall. He had some interesting self-collected “old-timers” but the room wasn’t getting much action (poor lighting), so I had ample opportunity to chat and acquired a few of his vintage ruby and sapphire crystals from NC localities. As I was about to leave, he said, “You might be interested in this” – and reached under his table for this super nice, small cabinet specimen. It features translucent, lustrous, tricolored tourmaline perched on a well-crystallized muscovite “book” with textbook habit. The tourmaline is perfectly terminated on one end, with parallel striations along the c-axis. Both crystals are aesthetically seated on a snow-white albite groundmass with sublime laminations. Pearly, pale-champaign lepidolite encrusts the tourmaline and richly accents the muscovite and albite, creating a sparkly effect under lights. Speaking of light, both the muscovite and the albite exhibit very interesting optical luminosity when viewed perpendicular to their principal axis with backlighting. Finally, to top it all off, the specimen is self-standing with perfect aspect. Bottom line: this is a super interesting vintage specimen from a famous locale collected years ago.
Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 3 cm. Mindat Specimen ID: 0V0-WVD
