Tourmaline: The Most Colorful Gem

Tourmaline: The Most Colorful Gem

History & Interesting Facts:

Tourmaline's name comes from the Sinhalese word "turmali," which means "mixed." Bright rainbow collections of gemstone varieties were called "turmali" parcels. Tourmaline, occurring in more colors and combinations of colors than any other gemstone variety, lives up to its name. There is a tourmaline that looks like almost any other gemstone! Many stones in the Russian Crown jewels from the 17th Century once thought to be rubies are actually tourmalines. Perhaps this is why this gemstone is said to encourage artistic intuition: it has many faces and expresses every mood. The Empress Dowager Tz'u Hsi, the last Empress of China, loved pink tourmaline and bought almost a ton of it from the new Himalayan Mine, located a long way from the Middle Country in California. The Himalaya Mine is still producing tourmaline today, but the Dowager went to rest eternally on a carved tourmaline pillow. Tourmaline is also of interest to scientists because it changes its electrical charge when heated. It becomes a polarized crystalline magnet and can attract light objects. This property was noticed long ago before science could explain it: in the Netherlands, tourmalines were called "aschentrekkers" because they attracted ashes and could be used to clean pipes.

Colors of the Rainbow:

Tourmaline occurs in every color of the rainbow as well as combinations of two or three colors. Bicolor and tricolor tourmalines, with bands of colors are very popular. Sometimes the colors are at different ends of the crystal and sometimes there is one color in the heart of the crystal and another around the outside. One color combination, pink center with a green rind, is called "watermelon tourmaline" (seedless, of course!) Sometimes designers set slices of the crystal instead of faceted stones to show off this phenomenon.

       Indicolite (blue or blue-green): Very scarce and expensive in fine qualities.

       Rubellite (red): Moderately scarce and expensive in fine qualities. Often badly included.

       Bicolor or tricolor tourmaline: Shows multiple color zones throughout the crystal. Highly prized when the colors are well divided, proportional and vivid. Often highly included .

       Watermelon tourmaline: The most known bicolor, it has a red central core surrounded by green, resembling the cross section of a watermelon.