Awesome lot of Cat's Eye Afghan Tourmaline Rough. This is a very unusual lot that we couldn't resist picking up on our current trip. We have seen this material on only 2 prior occasions. The rind of this material is a nice Neon Blue while the Interior is anywhere from a White to a Pastel Pink in color. The rind to this material is almost totally chatoyant and will produce a Cat's Eye effect if properly cut. Please don't let the exterior fool you as there are quite a few stones in here that have an opaque rind (due to the strong chatoyancy) with a totally clean or extremely clean interior. We estimate that roughly 25%+ of this material is high grade facet rough with some nice large pieces in here that will produce some lovely faceted stones.

This lot is ideally suited for the Tourmaline collector as it is a rarity to see Tourmaline occur in such a fashion. I did see a broken scepter in here along with a nicely terminated crystal or two and these alone are probably worth the cost of the lot. Please note that we have priced this lot as Cat's Eye cabbing rough and it is being sold as such. We don't know if there is any more of this material around so don't miss out as the price on this just doesn't get any better!

1. Afghan Tourmaline pockets tend to be relatively small in size and as a result consistency in color & quality is a rarity! We have never seen Afghan Tourmaline sold by the kilo with like colored and quality material and lots are generally small in size seldom going over 1/2-1 kilo.

2. All Afghan Tourmaline is exhumed from primary deposits and as a result mining costs are considerably higher due to dynamite expenditures and traveling expenditures to get to remote mining areas. It is also interesting to note that since all Afghan Tourmaline is from primary deposits most rough will usually have sharp crystal faces.