Tourmaline

It is present in every color of rainbow. The only colored stone found in so many colors. The last empress of china valued pink color tourmalines above all. The most expensive tourmalines are “Pariba tourmalines”. The name tourmaline is derived from “Turmali” the Sinhalese word for many colors.

Hardness: -7.0

Appearance:
It has the widest color range in the mineral world. Tourmalines can be found in pink, black, violet-red, brownish yellow, blackish brown, various shades of green, light blue, blue-green, dark blue. One of the distinctive quality of tourmalines are it can be found in two or three colors in one single stone. Fine crystal with concentric zoning are found, typically they are red on the inside and green on the outside and are known as “Watermelon” tourmalines.

Occurrence:
Tourmalines are mined in many parts of the world including Brazil, Afghanistan, East Africa and United States.

Value:
The most expensive kind of tourmalines is “pariba” tourmaline then the pink tourmalines or Rubelite. Remaining tourmalines are modestly priced.