Schorl Tourmaline On Quartz From Erongo Namibia

This is an old stock schorl tourmaline specimen from the Erongo area of Namibia. One of the beautiful tourmaline crystals exhibits some twinning! 

Via Mindat.org: The early history of the mineral schorl shows that the name "Schorl" was in use prior to the year 1400 (AD) because a village known today as Zschorlau (in Saxony, Germany) was then named "Schorl" (or minor variants of this name). This village had a nearby tin mine where, in addition to cassiterite, a lot of black tourmaline was found. First mentioned by Ulrich Rülein von Calw 1505. The first relatively detailed description of schorl with the name "schürl" and its occurrence (various tin mines in the Saxony Ore Mountains) was written by Johannes Mathesius (1504-1565) in 1562 under the title "Sarepta oder Bergpostill". Up to about 1600, additional names used in the German language were "Schurel", "Schörle", and "Schurl". From the 18th century on, the name "Schörl" was mainly used in the German-speaking area. In English, the names "shorl" and "shirl" were used in the 18th century for schorl. In the 19th century the names "common schorl", "schörl", "schorl" and "iron tourmaline" were used in the Anglo-Saxon area (Ertl, 2006).