Tourmaline Jewelry

Natural Tourmaline Jewelry

Tourmalines have a wide variety of exciting colors with one of the widest color ranges of any gem. Tourmaline is the October Birthstone and the 8th wedding anniversary gemstone.

Different colors of tourmaline are thought to have healing properties. Black tourmaline is believed to protect the wearer and give a sense of self-confidence. Pink tourmaline embodies love and is associated with compassion and gentleness. Green Tourmaline promotes courage, strength, and stamina.

LEARN MORE ABOUT TOURMALINE

The suite of multi-color tourmaline. Photo: GIA

Tourmaline comes from toramalli, which means “mixed gems” in Sinhalese (a language of Sri Lanka). It’s a term Dutch merchants applied to the multicolored, water-worn pebbles that miners found in the gem gravels of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

Many tourmaline color varieties have inspired their own trade names:

Rubellite is a name for pink, red, purplish red, orangy red, or brownish red tourmaline, although some in the trade argue that the term shouldn’t apply to pink tourmaline.
Indicolite is dark violetish blue, blue, or greenish blue tourmaline.
Paraíba is an intense violetish blue, greenish blue, or blue tourmaline from the state of Paraíba, Brazil.
Chrome tourmaline is intense green. In spite of its name, it’s colored mostly by vanadium, the same element that colors many Brazilian and African emeralds.
Parti-colored tourmaline displays more than one color. One of the most common combinations is green and pink, but many others are possible.
Watermelon tourmaline is pink in the center and green around the outside. Crystals of this material are typically cut in slices to display this special arrangement.