I was stunned at what I was looking at. Richard had slid the most amazing tourmaline crystal we had mined so far about  18
inches down the muck pile . One of the teeth of the excavator bucket had
dredged it up from under several inches golden cookeite.  I
was afraid to touch it. Mary was at the house screening buckets from
pocket MMP7-04, a long term project. I called her and told her to
get the camera and come
right to the mine. She immediately starting scolding me for
starting to work the newly exposed pegmatite without her. She
wouldn't
accept my explanation that we were only digging off the muck as
promised. While Mary was on her way, Richard starting combing
through the muck pile with the hoe. Within minutes he had found a
crystal section
that fit the bottom of the section we had found. While Richard
had been searching through the muck, I a gave the
first section a complete physical and declared, quite relieved, that
the
piece was in perfect health. What a close call! If the crystal had
gotten under the tooth it would surely have been at least damaged it
not pulverized. After Mary arrived and each of us had
participated in this
great photo op, Mary joined Richard in sorting through the pocket
material. Soon they had found the base. We now had a crystal that
was 18 cm tall sitting on a esthetic base of
cleavelandite. This was a classic Mt. Mica elbaite that somehow was
only separated into 3 sections. Hamlin describes, probably with a
little hyperbole, wonderful colored zoned crystals like this one.
However, they are always badly shattered and have missing pieces. This
crystal has a pristine termination and all its parts. We could easily
count 5 color
zones. The crystal was still rusty but its beauty was
stunning. It will surely rank as one of the best Mt.
Mica has ever produced. Some who have seen it rank it as perhaps
one of the finest from New England. Whatever the opinions may be,
it was definitely a thrilling moment to find it.
But
the thrill soon fades. The three us were anxious to get back to
see what new surprise Mt. Mica might have up her sleeve.
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