Dravite on schorl

The Khetchel site in Burma has been renowned for decades for its finds of tourmalines with a unique botryoidal form. It is the only known site in the world that produces these “mushroom-like” tourmalines. Despite the very unfavorable geopolitical situation, mining of these remarkable crystals has been successfully resumed after a long hiatus, much to the delight of the collecting community. In most cases, the crystals have a schorl core encrusted with rubellite. A new development in the past year has been the discovery of specimens of the same shape, in which, however, the red or pink rubellite has been replaced by gray-green dravite. This specimen is characterized by an unusually high luster and a completely intact form.