Elbaite with Quartz

specimen number:
8911056

location:
Paprok, Kamdesh, Nuristan, Afghanistan

description:
An aesthetic specimen showing a deep bluish green grouping of glassy gemmy terminated elbaite crystals, the top hosting a cluster of glassy gemmy crystals of quartz. Complete all around, this neat and attractive combination piece is in excellent condition. The specimen comes with a previous label from the Alton collection.

The Paprok region in the Kamdesh District of Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, is world-renowned for its granitic pegmatites intruded into ancient metamorphic rocks of the Hindu Kush range. Formed during complex tectonic collision events, these late-stage igneous pegmatite dikes feature large lithium-rich miarolitic pockets lined with exceptional gem minerals. Small-scale artisanal miners have worked these rugged alpine cliffs for decades, often tunneling directly into steep granite faces using hand tools and small charges to recover undamaged specimens. Paprok is celebrated among mineral collectors for producing extraordinary multicolored tourmaline crystals, particularly vibrant pink, green, and blue elbaite prisms, frequently associated with lustrous quartz, cleavelandite feldspar, purple lepidolite mica, and gemmy morganite beryl.

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