18MA70 Liddicoatite Tourmaline
Anjanabonoina pegmatites, Ambohimanambola Commune, Betafo District, Vakinankaratra Region, Antananarivo Province, Madagascara
1.16x 0.84x 0.59 cm
$395
A 5.20 ct bicolored tourmaline from Anjanabonoina. While it has some obvious internal clarity issues, I immediately noticed it because of the insanely sharp boundary between the color zones. Most bicolored tourmalines cut from Brazilian or Nigerian material are cut along the C axis (the length of the crystal) resulting in a longer finished stone-- and a color gradient that shifts gradually, as is usually the case with rough from those locations. In this case, I strongly suspect the crystal was cut perpendicular to the length of the crystal--Anjanabonoina is famous for its tourmaline slices, these derive their color contrast from successive generations of outward tourmaline growth. Most of that material is far too fractured to turn into a faceted stone (so it is sliced) but this bit of rough (while still somewhat included) was much cleaner than usual-- clean enough to produce a decent finished product. In any case, I found the sharp contrast fascinating, and it's a really interesting piece. It measures 11.6x 8.4x 5.9 mm.