Catalog Search Guide
You can search our catalog using different mineral attributes. For example, you can search by color such as green, yellow or purple, or by chemical elements such as uranium, calcium or iron, or by mineral groups such as phosphate, silicate or carbonate. You can also filter by crystal habit like crystal, geode or crystal on matrix, by specimen size such as thumbnail, small, medium or cabinet, and by features such as radioactive or fluorescent minerals.
Elbaite
Elbaite is the lithium-rich member of the tourmaline group, a cyclosilicate prized above all other tourmaline species for the sheer range of its color. Chemically it is a sodium-lithium-aluminum borosilicate, forming solid-solution series toward schorl, dravite, and liddicoatite; trace iron, manganese, chromium, and copper produce the pinks (rubellite), blues (indicolite), greens (verdelite), and the concentrically zoned pink-and-green crystals known as watermelon tourmaline. Crystals are trigonal, typically slender and striated prisms terminating in flat or convex pinacoids, and the mineral takes an excellent vitreous polish with no cleavage.
The species was first described from the Rosina pegmatite near San Piero in Campo on the island of Elba, Italy, historic source of the classic black-capped "Moor's Head" tourmalines. Brazil's Minas Gerais pegmatites — including the Pederneira mine, Jonas mine, and Golconda mine — remain the world's leading producer, while cuprian, neon-blue "Paraíba" elbaite from the Batalha mine in Paraíba state commands the gem trade's highest prices. Other exceptional localities include the Himalaya and Tourmaline Queen mines of Pala, California; the Paprok and Mawi pegmatites of Nuristan, Afghanistan; Anjanabonoina and the Sahatany field in Madagascar; the Malkhan pegmatite in Siberia; and mushroom-shaped elbaite from Mogok, Myanmar.
Collectors seek elbaite for its unmatched color palette, sharp crystal habit, and gemmy transparency — qualities that make fine multicolor, watermelon, and Paraíba-type specimens among the most desirable pieces in any tourmaline collection.
Sorry, there are no products in this collection
