FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Amir Akhavan]

I've read that tourmaline scepters occurred on Brazil
(in an old article on scepters by G. Niedermayr).
No idea how that would look like, though.

Anatase is a crazy mineral, so many forms and habits... I wonder what scepters look like.

I agree with Peter, many things go as scepters that one would rather not call so. Scepters from Arkansas, for example, are usually crystals with a thin stem caused by growth inhibition by calcite that got dissolved naturally or during the cleaning process.

[Jordi Fabre]

[John S. White]

And I agree with Amir that there are scepter-like forms that are not true scepters. The best examples are the quartzes from China in which the stems were growing at the same rate as the the dolomite which enclosed them. When the dolomite ceased to grow, the quartz could then develop without restrictions and so you have normal-appearing "heads" with sharp faces on etched-appearing stems. The locality is Shangbao, Leiyang, Hunan. Some say the dolomite has been dissolved by the dealers to expose the stems.

[John S. White]

I suspect that Jordi's "scepters" are not true scepters. The first appears to be one of those tourmalines where a thni skin of tourmaline on the lower part has broken away. The Paraiba crystal appears to be one where the stem may have grown in feldspar which was subsequently eroded away. I would not consider these scepters.

[Amir Akhavan]

Very pretty!
:-)

So do we know anything about them. Did they grow freely?
It's strange that the color transitions look as if they were not really related to the scepter formation...

The most amazing thing about the Erika Pohl Collection specimen is that they did not break it (so far) ;-)

[Amir Akhavan]

Oh, my question is already answered, thanks...

[John S. White]

Well I am running out of scepter photos to share with you (do I hear a sigh of relief?) but I have to include another of my favorites. This one is from the Tipling mine, Dhading district, Nepal. It is 8.5 cm high. What is unusual about this one is the clear tip on a typical chlorite-infested stem

[Amir Akhavan]

That's a funny one.
And one that I understand - if I was a silica molecule, I'd rather look for a sunny new place and start a new crystal on top of the other than to join the terrible green and muddy mess below :-)

[Peter Megaw]

I very much like Amir's term "growth inhibition" it very clearly expresses the fact (elaborated by John with his Chinese example) of confined or constrained growth. I would agree that these should not be considered "true" sceptres...just what we need a lead-in to another argument about terminology!

[Luiz Menezes]

On my opinion the Brazilian tourmaline scepters are not true scepters, the top has not grown above the lower "stem"; they might have been formed by the etching of the lower part of the prism; the contact between the top and the bottom is never a sharp rhombohedral face or a sharp basal pinacoid but has always a "cathedral-like" pattern typical of etched tourmaline crystals.

On bicolor (pink-green) elbaite crystals from Maxixe mine, Itinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil, found on the late 1990's, several false scepters were manufactured by breaking the thin green cast that was coating the pink bottom of the crystals; on those specimens we could see, looking from the bottom, a very thin hollow zone between the green cast and the pink core, and by breaking this green cast a false scepter was created; therefore, the contact between the top and the "stem" showed conchoidal fracture instead of the "cathedral-like" etched surface that can be seen on the naturally formed tourmaline "scepters" from the 2 classic Brazilian localities (Barra do Salinas and Pederneira).

About other minerals found as scepters, I sold to Daniel Trinchillo on the mid 1990's an outstanding amethyst geode, from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, that contained more than 10 calcite scepters, about 5 cm long, unfortunately I don't have a photo of this specimen.

Luiz Menezes

[Jason]

good info Luiz..quick question..I thought the maxixe mine was closed in the 70's or 80's and the location lost or something along those lines..I am of course thinking of the beryl..was there also a maxixe tourmaline mine? Is it just a location name used for multiple mines in the area? sorry a little off topic but....is it true that the original maxixe beryl mine is now lost?

[Jordi Fabre]

[John S. White]

I wish that more FMF members were subscribers to Rocks & Minerals. I wrote a column on scepters for the March/April 2003 issue in which I discussed many of the issues now appearing in this thread. I am trying to get the editor, Marie Huizing, to make the column available so that it can be posted here. I have written another column on the origin of scepter-like tourmalines which appeared in the November/December 2002 issue. In this I argue, as does Luiz Menezes, that these are not true scepters.

[Luiz Menezes]

[Jordi Fabre]

Thanks John and Luiz for your so accurate infos. I already changed the texts in my post -> https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?p=8959#8959

Jordi