Tourmaline

Item Description

When it comes to colored stones, one of the most well-known and popular gems around the world is Tourmaline. Believe it or not, gem quality Tourmaline hasn't been known for thousands of years like Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald. As a matter of fact, Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s found gem quality Tourmaline in South America (presumably Brazil) which was mistook for Emerald, and it actually took a few hundred years before their mistake was realized. Virtually all of the Tourmalines in Europe at that time were black (Schorl), so the concept of colorful gem quality material hadn't been introdued. Today we have Tourmaline gems from many world localities occuring in a wide array of colors. This particular stone has a beautiful light blue-green color with a lovely "Oval Brilliant" cut. The stone is only very very slightly included, which is significant becuase Tourmaline is classified as a "Type 3" gemstone, as inclusions are almost always present, and accepted by dealers and collectors, so when you find a stone like this, it's impressive. I have to say that the price of good Tourmalines is on the rise, and we're seeing Tourmalines selling for higher prices per carat in virtually every color.