Lepidolite

specimen number:
2102462

location:
Little Three Mine, San Diego Co., California, USA

description:
Nice cluster of lustrous purple lepidolite crystals. Complete all around with little attached matrix. In good condition. From the 1970s.

The Little Three Mine, located near Ramona in San Diego County, California, has a history dating back to its discovery in 1902 by prospectors searching the local terrain. Historically, the property became famous during the 20th century as a premier producer of gem-quality minerals, particularly vibrant orange spessartine garnet and blue topaz. Geologically, the deposit is situated within the southern California pegmatite belt, hosted in complex granitic and miarolitic pegmatite dikes that intruded older regional metamorphic and plutonic rocks. These zoned pegmatite systems formed through fractional crystallization and late-stage hydrothermal fluid activity, creating cavities that yielded diverse crystallized specimens including tourmaline, quartz, and feldspar.

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