Three and a half million carats of tourmaline were discovered in Maine’s Western Mountains in 1972. It was the largest find of tourmaline in the world.
A college student had a summer of wildcatting with a dirt bike. He had good tires and an earth auger lashed to the side. He found his way to Plumbago Mountain. He met an old guy with knowledge of mining and a good location. They got along well. With the young guy’s strength and the old guy’s knowledge they began a serious exploration. One thing led to another… Two more partners and they discovered a treasure of gem tourmaline. So much was found the world of fine jewelry sat up and took notice. They found so much of such fine quality, gem cutters over half a century later are still cutting tourmaline gems.
America’s Largest Gem Find
Pink Maine Tourmaline – 1972
Plumbago Mountain – Mine #3
Imagine it’s late October-early November in 1972. You and a bunch of guys are tunneling into the side of a mountain near the top with dynamite, picks and shovels and you are opening gem pockets filled with huge gem tourmaline crystals … mostly pink.
Your life has changed and is about to change even more dramatically because you have stumbled upon one of the world’s richest gem finds of the century. The leaves are gone from the trees, the air is cool, air temperature 37ºF, there is a slight wind out of the northwest.
You’re racing to secure as much of the gem treasure before the snow flies. Imagine by the time you remove your equipment from the mountain you will have secured two metric tons (3 1/2 million carats) of gems, a quantity so vast even a half-century later our cutters are still cutting gems from this find. As you can imagine, Maine jewelers were thrilled.
A Portland jeweler bought all the prettiest pink tourmaline from the “72” find. This jeweler knew that in 150 years of tourmaline mining in Maine the color green predominated. Pure pink crystals of tourmaline were almost unheard of in Maine. So this jeweler bought every pure pink cut gem in the early years, more than he needed in any given year. Today a half-century later, Cross Jewelers still has a treasure trove of exceedingly rare pink Maine tourmaline gems. Will it last forever? Of course not. This is your last chance to acquire one of these exceedingly rare pink Maine gems.
This is Phil McCrillis, 4th generation gem miner, with a box full of tourmaline crystals from the “72” find. Behind him is a bank vault with dozens of boxes of tourmaline crystals.
To Have a Treasure of Gems Discovered in Their Backyard…
One Portland jeweler bought everything that was pretty because pink in Maine had only occasionally been found and that there were no guarantees that pink tourmaline of this quality would ever be found again.
