The Great Divide Tourmaline

The Great Divide Tourmaline remains one of the most expensive tourmaline specimens in the world. PR photo courtesy Astro Gallery of Gems, 2017.   The Great Divide Tourmaline stands out in mineral history as one of the most unique and valuable tourmaline specimens in the world. Miners found it in the Pederneira Mine in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Though not unique in color, its form remains singular.  

Pederneira Mine

Located in Sao Jose da Safira, Minas Gerais, Brazil, the Pederneira Mine emerged on the tourmaline scene in the 1940s. Decades later, in the early 1990s, prospectors discovered spectacular tourmaline specimens in this fortuitous claim. In the early 2000s, mineral dealer Daniel Trinchillo saw a photo of a spectacular spiked specimen of tourmaline called The Sharon Stone. In a bid to purchase the gem, he hopped on a plane and flew to Brazil. (source) Driving on an unpaved road, Daniel encountered free-range cattle, bumpy roads, and, here and there, a landslide. Finally, he arrived safely at the mine entrance. Upon meeting with one of the mine owners, he discovered that five men jointly owned the claim - Jose Menezes de Souza, Wilson Tomich, Saint-Clair Fonesca Jr., Eustacio Neves, and Jose Miranda Da Costa Jr. Mineral and gem dealers all, these men ultimately found great success with the Pederneira Mine. The mine produced an abundance of fine quartz, lepidolite, mica, spessertine, cleavelandite, and, of course, huge pockets of bicolored tourmaline.  

A Rainbow Legend

Bicolored tourmaline frequents the legends of many cultures. The Ancient Egyptians believed that as it pushed up through the earth's crust, tourmaline passed through a rainbow and collected all the rainbow's colors as its own. Similarly, in 1906, Richard Keene related the story of an ugly evil spirit who raged at the sight of anything beautiful. One afternoon, he sat at the entrance to his cave, looking up to the sky. Suddenly, a rainbow appeared. Its beauty threw him into a fit of rage so violent that he conjured a spell, capturing all the colors of the rainbow in his fist. From there, he carried the rainbow into the deepest crevice of his cave. Today, in various mines around the world, it is these broken bits of rainbow, crushed by the fury of this raging evil spirit, which we now call tourmaline. (source) One such broken piece of rainbow surfaced in 2011.  

The Great Divide Tourmaline

The Great Divide Tourmaline features a slim spear of pink tourmaline slicing through the top of a substantial purple-pink and blue hexagonal tourmaline crystal. Mother Nature fused these natural wonders together with astonishing power. The crystals arise from a bed of albite (the pure white mineral) and lepedolite (the purple mineral). Measuring 6 x 6 x 7 inches, this specimen runs on the large size even for the abundant Pederneira Mine. In 2017, Astro Gallery of Gems announced their intended sale of this one-of-a-kind tourmaline treasure. Estimated at a value of $1.2 million, The Great Divide Tourmaline proves an incredible choice for any serious mineral collector. ~Angela Magnotti Andrews