Tourmaline is a silicate mineral popular as a gemstone. Tourmaline occurs in the complete range of colors, as well as in a colorless form, and also as multicolored within the same specimen. Tourmaline’s name comes from the Sinhalese word turmali, which means “mixed precious stones.” Pink tourmaline is one of the stones used as the October birthstone; tourmaline is the commemorative gemstone for the 8th wedding anniversary. Popular forms of tourmaline include watermelon tourmaline; rubellite (see the chapter on rubellite); indicolite; dravite; achroite; and schorl; as well as green, pink, blue, yellow, and colorless varieties of tourmaline.
•Where is tourmaline found?
Tourmaline is found in many localities around the world, including Brazil, Africa, the United States, Sri Lanka, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Myanmar, Madagascar, Tanzania, and Namibia.
•Color
Tourmaline occurs in a gorgeous rainbow of colors, including all the shades of green (chrome tourmaline is especially vivid due to the presence of chromium); shades of pink; red (rubellite); shades of blue (indicolite, also known as indigolite); shades of yellow, orange, brown (dravite), gold; black (schorl); multicolored (watermelon tourmaline has bands of green and pink that make it look exactly like the inside of a slice of watermelon!); colorless (achroite); and white.
•Shape
Tourmaline is cut into all the faceted gemstone shapes: round brilliant, oval, pear, marquise, emerald, heart, square, trillion, and fantasy. Watermelon tourmaline is also cut into cabochons.
•Durability
Tourmaline has a hardness of 7 1/2 on the Mohs Scale and is moderately durable. It can be set in mountings with relative safety, and handles the jeweler’s torch and polishing fairly well. It is safe to place tourmaline in an ultrasonic cleaner, but it should not be boiled. It should also not be exposed to excessive heat or drastic temperature changes.
•Quality
The quality of tourmaline is evaluated in much the same way as other translucent gemstones: by the intensity and uniformity of a stone’s color, and the presence or absence of internal inclusions. Many gemstone suppliers use a four-tiered system of grading for tourmalines:
- AAA stones, the rarest stones, are deep pink or chrome green colors and are “eye clean” (no visible internal flaws)
- AA stones are medium colored, either eye clean stones or stones with minor inclusions
- A stones are medium to light colors, with a minor to medium level of inclusions
- B stones are light colors, with moderate inclusions. It should be noted that almost all pink or red tourmalines have natural, internal inclusions of varying degrees of visibility and infiltration.
•Legend and lore
The legends surrounding tourmaline, and the powers attributed to this beautiful gemstone, are many and varied. Blue tourmaline can reputedly assist you in distancing yourself from negative people and events; green tourmaline can aid communications; pink or red tourmaline can reportedly relax the wearer and release tension; yellow varieties of tourmaline can help you think better; watermelon tourmaline can bring stamina and also can communicate to an observer that the wearer of the watermelon tourmaline is a dependable, responsible person.
•Care
You can clean your tourmaline in standard jewelry cleaner, but do not boil it. Soak it for a few minutes, rinse it well under warm (not hot) water, and dry it with a soft cloth. Do not wear tourmaline in the blazing sun; nor expose it to severe temperature changes.
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