A Rare and Large Tourmaline Verdilite Crystal (1700 to 1900 United Kingdom)
Medium
Tourmaline Verdilite Crystal
Dimensions
21.50cm high
(8.46 inches high)
Provenance
Provenance:
Ex Private Devon collection, bought by Gregory Botley & Lloyd
Ex John Hewitt
Ex English Private collection
Literature
The word tourmaline is derived from the Sinhalese ‘Turmali’ meaning special stones.
Precious stones have exerted a charm over mankind since prehistory. Gemstones have been used as amuletic ornaments and regarded by man as a repository of supernatural powers. In ancient Peru an emerald the size of an Ostrich egg was honoured as a god. The early astrologers linked each of the known planets with a day of the week and the alchemists connected these planets with certain minerals or metals. There was also an astrological connection made between the signs of the zodiac and certain gemstones. Birthstones soon followed which supposedly endowed the person born in a certain month with particular capabilities or could bestow on them good fortune.
Pliny the Elder realised the secret of their beauty when he said ‘In gemstones the whole majesty of nature is compressed into the smallest space and in a single stone we can perceive the masterpiece of creation’.
Description / Expertise
A Rare and Large Tourmaline Verdilite Crystal
Of translucent green, with white collection no: 839
Size: 21.5 cm long – 8½ ins long
FOR SALE
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