TOURMALINE
If there is a crystal that would have all the colors of the rainbow, it would be the Tourmaline. Dubbed the earth’s most colorful crystals, Tourmaline gems belong to a large group of boron silicate minerals. They share a common crystal structure but because of varying chemical compositions, tourmalines come in varying hues and are a favorite among jewelers and mineral specimen collectors. Rare specimens with attractive colors and crystal forms can sell for thousands of dollars.
| Color | BLACK, BLUE, GREEN, YELLOW, PINK, RED, ORANGE, PURPLE, BROWN AND COLORLESS. |
| Birthstone | LIBRA |
| Month Associated | OCTOBER |
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TOURMALINE
The word Tourmaline is derived from the Sinhalese (Sri Lanka’s language) “tōramalli”. In the 1800’s, Dutch merchants tagged all colored crystals found in the island of Sri Lanka with the moniker until the name was anglicized to Tourmaline.
MEANING:
TOURMALINE TRIVIA:
Tourmaline was roughly discovered in the 1500s but because the first specimens were green it was mistakenly tagged as emeralds? In fact, the Spanish conquistador Francisco Spinoza called the green tourmaline the “Brazilian emerald”. It was only after centuries passed when mineralogists identified Tourmaline as different from emeralds and assigned it as a separate mineral species. Active Tourmaline mines are located in various parts of Africa (Nigeria, Madagascar, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia) and with the most active mines located in Brazil.