Tourmaline and Quartz

Stak Nala, Haramosh Mountains, Roundu District, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

A dark tourmaline prism 2,5 cm rises in front of a single clear quartz crystal, a composition of rare balance. The tourmaline is deeply striated along its length and nearly black, until just below the tip it turns transparent with a faint blue tint; the crystal ends in the flat, frosted termination typical of Stak Nala. Behind it, the quartz frames the tourmaline like a setting, with clean faces and perfectly sharp edges. From Stak Nala in the Haramosh Mountains of northern Pakistan, the best-known tourmaline locality in the country, which has produced fine crystals since the 1980s. What sets this piece apart is how neatly a single tourmaline and one clean quartz crystal come together.