( 
)
Investing in tourmaline is made much easier by the lack of lab imitations, although glass is sometimes sold to the unwary. Tourmaline investment probably suffers most from simply having too many choices. Valuable qualities in tourmalines, in decreasing rank, are: Size, color, finish, clarity, shape, and setting. Investment quality stones can be found in jewelry settings as well as massive crystal museum quality displays.
The name "Tourmaline” is derived from the Singhalese expression "tura mali”, which translates as "stone of mixed colors.” The very name already refers to the fantastic color range displayed by this gem, which is second to none in the realm of precious stones. Tourmalines are red, green, blue, brown, yellow, black and white (ivory). Often they show two or more colors and are cherished for this multi-colored appearance. There are tourmalines which change their color from daylight to artificial light, others display chatoyant qualities like moonstones or star sapphires. No two tourmalines are exactly alike: this gemstone shows many faces and is thus excellently suited to match all moods and tempers. It does not come as a surprise, then, that ever since ancient days it has been attributed with magical powers. Tourmaline is supposed to be an especially powerful influence on love and friendship, lending them permanence and stability.
The discovery of large crystals in Madagascar and Nigeria have irrvocably changed the tourmaline market. The market has been flooded by large quantities of tourmaline in small sizes, in a startling color range. Only smart and knowledgeable collectors went after the large crystals. It is a similar situation to what happened a few years ago when tanzanite flooded the market. Only smart and knowledgeable collectors invested in the large top grade pieces. Now they have the best returns on their investment. In tourmalines, size counts.
Tourmalines are mixed crystals of complex aluminum-borosilicate varying in their composition. The slightest changes in composition will result in completely different colors. In fact, crystals showing one color only are quite rare; generally one and the same crystal displays several shades and colors. Not only the wide range of colors characterizes this gemstone, it also shows a remarkable dichroism. Depending on the angle of view the color will be different or at least show different intensity. The deepest color always appears along the main axis, a fact that the gemstone cutter has to keep in mind when cutting the stone. Irradiation, and other heat treatments, tend to destroy natural, multi-colored tourmaline so that large stones exhibit only one color, and attribute to look for when avoiding treated stones. This gemstone is excellently suited for wearing and is uncomplicated to care for, since all tourmalines show a hardness of 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs’ scale.
The different shades of color have been assigned different names in the trade. For example, deep red tourmaline is named "Rubellite”, provided it shows the same fine ruby-red shade in daylight and in artificial light. Should the color change when the source of light changes, the stone will be called a "pink tourmaline”. Blue tourmalines are called "Indigolith”, "Dravite” is a golden-brown to dark brown tourmaline, and black tourmalines are known as "Schorl”. The latter stone is mainly used for engravings and in esotericism, where it is highly cherished because it is reputed to ward off harmful radiation from its wearer.
Very popular is "Verdelith”, the green tourmaline, however, if its fine emerald-like green is caused by traces of chromium, the stone is named "Chromium-Tourmaline.” But the outstanding queen of tourmalines is of course Paraiba tourmaline, a gemstone showing a vivid deep blue to bluish green, found for the first time in1987 in the mines of the Brazilian state of Paraiba. In good qualities these stones are much coveted treasures. Since yellow Tourmalines from Malawi of brilliant color have been offered on the market, the formerly missing color yellow has been added in excellent quality to the apparently unlimited range of colors shown by the "Rainbow Gemstone.”
USUALLY INCLUDED TYPE III GEM
Classified by GIA as a Type III Gemstone, usually included Gems, due to its crystal structure, most tourmaline are imperfect to some degree but in fact, it has not stopped tourmaline from being considered a gem that collectors are always seek in large sizes and beautiful jewelry. Jewelers and consumers have been less than tolerant of the stone’s typically glaring inclusions. Americans often think about colored gemstones the way they think about diamonds, so they expect colored stones to be 4Cs clean and that’s an expectation which is hard for genuine tourmaline to meet.
WATERMELON TOURMALINE
This is just a sample of all the information available on tourmaline. And the names above are by no means all the names tourmaline has achieved: there still have to be mentioned bi-colored and multi-colored tourmalines Very popular are also slices cut as cross-sections through tourmalines, as these will render the full splendor of colors embedded in a specific tourmaline. For example, such slices taken from tourmalines with red heart and green border are called a "Watermelon-tourmaline”; slices with a clear heart and a black border are called "Moor’s head –tourmaline”
Tourmalines are mined everywhere in the world. There are important occurrences in Brazil, in Sri Lanka and South and Southwest Africa. Other occurrences are situated in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Tourmalines are also found in the USA, first of all in Maine and Utah. But although there are rich occurrences of tourmalines all over the world, good qualities and fine colors are only rarely offered on the market. Therefore, then, the price range achieved by tourmaline almost matches its wide range of colors. When purchasing tourmaline, always ask about treatments, and expect a reputable dealer to give you 30 days to seek outside appraisals on expensive, investment quality specimens.
The name "Tourmaline” is derived from the Singhalese expression "tura mali”, which translates as "stone of mixed colors.” The very name already refers to the fantastic color range displayed by this gem, which is second to none in the realm of precious stones. Tourmalines are red, green, blue, brown, yellow, black and white (ivory). Often they show two or more colors and are cherished for this multi-colored appearance. There are tourmalines which change their color from daylight to artificial light, others display chatoyant qualities like moonstones or star sapphires. No two tourmalines are exactly alike: this gemstone shows many faces and is thus excellently suited to match all moods and tempers. It does not come as a surprise, then, that ever since ancient days it has been attributed with magical powers. Tourmaline is supposed to be an especially powerful influence on love and friendship, lending them permanence and stability.
The discovery of large crystals in Madagascar and Nigeria have irrvocably changed the tourmaline market. The market has been flooded by large quantities of tourmaline in small sizes, in a startling color range. Only smart and knowledgeable collectors went after the large crystals. It is a similar situation to what happened a few years ago when tanzanite flooded the market. Only smart and knowledgeable collectors invested in the large top grade pieces. Now they have the best returns on their investment. In tourmalines, size counts.
Tourmalines are mixed crystals of complex aluminum-borosilicate varying in their composition. The slightest changes in composition will result in completely different colors. In fact, crystals showing one color only are quite rare; generally one and the same crystal displays several shades and colors. Not only the wide range of colors characterizes this gemstone, it also shows a remarkable dichroism. Depending on the angle of view the color will be different or at least show different intensity. The deepest color always appears along the main axis, a fact that the gemstone cutter has to keep in mind when cutting the stone. Irradiation, and other heat treatments, tend to destroy natural, multi-colored tourmaline so that large stones exhibit only one color, and attribute to look for when avoiding treated stones. This gemstone is excellently suited for wearing and is uncomplicated to care for, since all tourmalines show a hardness of 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs’ scale.
The different shades of color have been assigned different names in the trade. For example, deep red tourmaline is named "Rubellite”, provided it shows the same fine ruby-red shade in daylight and in artificial light. Should the color change when the source of light changes, the stone will be called a "pink tourmaline”. Blue tourmalines are called "Indigolith”, "Dravite” is a golden-brown to dark brown tourmaline, and black tourmalines are known as "Schorl”. The latter stone is mainly used for engravings and in esotericism, where it is highly cherished because it is reputed to ward off harmful radiation from its wearer.
Very popular is "Verdelith”, the green tourmaline, however, if its fine emerald-like green is caused by traces of chromium, the stone is named "Chromium-Tourmaline.” But the outstanding queen of tourmalines is of course Paraiba tourmaline, a gemstone showing a vivid deep blue to bluish green, found for the first time in1987 in the mines of the Brazilian state of Paraiba. In good qualities these stones are much coveted treasures. Since yellow Tourmalines from Malawi of brilliant color have been offered on the market, the formerly missing color yellow has been added in excellent quality to the apparently unlimited range of colors shown by the "Rainbow Gemstone.”
USUALLY INCLUDED TYPE III GEM
Classified by GIA as a Type III Gemstone, usually included Gems, due to its crystal structure, most tourmaline are imperfect to some degree but in fact, it has not stopped tourmaline from being considered a gem that collectors are always seek in large sizes and beautiful jewelry. Jewelers and consumers have been less than tolerant of the stone’s typically glaring inclusions. Americans often think about colored gemstones the way they think about diamonds, so they expect colored stones to be 4Cs clean and that’s an expectation which is hard for genuine tourmaline to meet.
WATERMELON TOURMALINE
This is just a sample of all the information available on tourmaline. And the names above are by no means all the names tourmaline has achieved: there still have to be mentioned bi-colored and multi-colored tourmalines Very popular are also slices cut as cross-sections through tourmalines, as these will render the full splendor of colors embedded in a specific tourmaline. For example, such slices taken from tourmalines with red heart and green border are called a "Watermelon-tourmaline”; slices with a clear heart and a black border are called "Moor’s head –tourmaline”
Tourmalines are mined everywhere in the world. There are important occurrences in Brazil, in Sri Lanka and South and Southwest Africa. Other occurrences are situated in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Tourmalines are also found in the USA, first of all in Maine and Utah. But although there are rich occurrences of tourmalines all over the world, good qualities and fine colors are only rarely offered on the market. Therefore, then, the price range achieved by tourmaline almost matches its wide range of colors. When purchasing tourmaline, always ask about treatments, and expect a reputable dealer to give you 30 days to seek outside appraisals on expensive, investment quality specimens.
Guide created: 05/20/06 (updated 10/11/09)
Thank you for voting. If your vote meets our 
