Verdelite tourmaline

Verdelite tourmaline: Already in antiquity, tourmaline was used as a precious stone because of its variety of colors.

This stone has been known since the 3rd century BC. JC, although, because of the diversity of its colors, it was often confused with other precious stones.

It was not until the beginning of the 13th century that the Dutch brought tourmaline back from Sri Lanka under the native name of “Turamali” which means “stone of mixed colors”, noting that these stones attracted the ash of their pipe, they named them “Aschentrekker” which means “stone that attracts ashes”.

Tourmaline gem

The gemstone tourmaline refers to a group of minerals from the silicate family, its hardness is 7/7.5 on the Mohs scale.

The gemstone tourmaline is a stone found all over the world, Africa, South America, Asia, and even in Europe.

The main countries for the extraction of tourmaline are Brazil and Sri Lanka, but it is also found in Afghanistan, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania.

Each variety of tourmaline is designated either by its color or by a specific name such as Paraiba, discovered in 1987 in Brazil, which is neon blue or electric green, verdelite with shades of green, indicolite with shades of blue, rubellite from pink to purplish red, its ruby color being highly sought after, schorl which is black, achroite, a rare variety which is colorless, watermelons that are bi-colored and other tri-colored, dravite that is yellow-brown to brown in color dark.

The trade name “Watermelon” in reference to watermelon, normally designates a tourmaline slice cut from the natural crystal, with a pink and green heart on its periphery.
Today we regularly name “Watermelon” all two-tone pink-green or polychrome tourmalines of the same tone.

Fine stone tourmaline

Most gemstone tourmalines do not undergo any treatment with a few exceptions, such as Paraíba tourmaline which is heat-treated to improve its color, but heat treatments on tourmalines are difficult to detect, even for laboratories.

Fine stone tourmaline is resistant, durable, shiny and offers the richest color palette. It is one of the most popular and coveted gemstones by collectors around the world.

There is also a rare variety of tourmaline called “cat’s eye“, which exhibits a unique reflection in light that resembles the slit eye of a cat.
The technical term used by gemologists to refer to this cat’s eye effect is called “shimmer”.

Some of these gemstones reach high selling prices, such as ruby red rubellite which can reach €2,500 per carat, Paraiba tourmaline in neon blue-green colors which can reach and exceed €12,000 per carat.

Among other of its many virtues in lithotherapy, tourmaline would protect and symbolize youth but also would arouse creativity. Finally, the electrical qualities of tourmaline give it the role of a protective shield.

Tourmaline with the most diverse color tones is a popular gemstone highly sought after in jewelry, fine jewelry and fine jewelry.