Colourful tourmaline

Lately I got fascinated with this colourful gemstone, the many colours of tourmaline really amazed me.

Tourmaline is a crystalline boron silicate mineral containing elements such as aluminium, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium, or potassium. Tourmaline is classified as a semi-precious stone and the gemstone comes in a wide variety of colours.

Tourmaline has a variety of colours. Usually, iron-rich tourmalines are black to bluish-black to deep brown, while magnesium-rich varieties are brown to yellow, and lithium-rich tourmalines are almost any colour: blue, green, red, yellow, pink, etc. Rarely, it is colorless. Bi-colored and multicoloured crystals are common, reflecting variations of fluid chemistry during crystallization. Crystals may be green at one end and pink at the other, or green on the outside and pink inside; this type is called watermelon tourmaline.

Tourmaline stones of different colours are usually cut into beads and made into bracelets. It is trendy to put on a bracelet of tourmaline beads on one's wrist.

 

Some bracelets are made from tourmaline of a particular colour, green or pink. In this case it is quite special as the beads have to be cut from different stones of similar quality to enhance the quality of the bracelets. When the stones are clear and the beads are larger, the bracelets will be more expensive. The price of tourmaline has increased a lot recently due to a greater demand for this stones in China. A very nice green tourmaline bracelet used to sell for 400 dollars a few years ago now costs thousands of dollars. Clear green tourmaline beads are really lovely, looks like jade but more transparent and harder.

A green tourmaline bracelet

This gem quality tourmaline is very expensive

 

This water-melon tourmaline is of a very high quality. It is hence cut into a faceted gem. An ideal gift for your loved one.

Gemstone quality tourmaline

Some rough tourmaline is also very attractive in its raw and native form. No wonder there are so many collectors who specialize n collecting roughs.

Rough tourmaline

A remarkable raw tourmaline

 Ladies are especially attracted to pink tourmaline. Beads of the pink stones are cut into necklaces and they look good on ladies' necks. But necklaces of fine quality are by no means cheap.

A pink tourmaline necklace is equally lovely

Blue tourmaline, a rare piece

The more I look at this amazing stone, the more I want to collect some for my own enjoyment.