Rubellite

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 overgrown with red rubellite. The rubellite in this specimen forms partially translucent, reddish, and unusually massive crystals. Another interesting feature is the remnant of a hambergite crystal, visible as a rectangular opening at the top of the crystal.