Tourmaline
Birthstone:
October’s birthstones make for a perfectly peachy pairing: opulent Opals and tantalising Tourmalines!!! Here we laser focus on Tourmalines which are literally a vibrant technicolour dream come true with wonderous poetic monikers to match!!! The most famous ones though in bejewelled terms are:
- Green Tourmaline (Verdelite)
- Pink Tourmaline
- Red Tourmaline (Rubellite)
- Blue Tourmaline (Indicolite or Paraiba caused by copper leeching)
- Watermelon Tourmaline (normally pink and green)
- Yellow Tourmaline (Canary and Savannah)
- Black (Schorl)
The word Tourmaline is thought to have derived from the Sri Lankan word “Toramalli” which means “stone of mixed colour” referencing the Watermelon Tourmaline that much feted jewellers such as Andrew Grima so coveted in their work.
Healing Properties:
Tourmalines have numerous healing properties. It is said to promote positivity and prosperity, inspiration and serenity, strength and confidence, compassion and tolerance. Interestingly, Schorl (Black Tourmaline) is often used to protect one’s energies whilst stimulating the little grey cells!! Pink Tourmaline emanates love whilst Green Tourmaline gives one stamina, strength and courage.
Tourmalines have numerous healing properties. It is said to promote positivity and prosperity, inspiration and serenity, strength and confidence, compassion and tolerance. Interestingly, Schorl (Black Tourmaline) is often used to protect one’s energies whilst stimulating the little grey cells!! Pink Tourmaline emanates love whilst Green Tourmaline gives one stamina, strength and courage.
Potted History & Magical Myths:
Tourmalines have been prized gemstones for both royals and mere mortals for decades. It became known as the “American Gem” in the late 1800s as George F Kunz, the renowned glittering gemologist from Tiffany & Co had very much lauded and promoted the deposits found in California! Such was the hype that the first commercial mine was opened in 1898. The excitement even travelled afar to the Chinese shores, and the Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi is said to have been so utterly obsessed with Pink Tourmaline that a 120 tonnes of Rubellite was sent to Imperial China over a seven year period:1902 to 1910. When Empress Dowager Cixi shuffled off her mortal coil she was laid to rest on a Pink Tourmaline Pillow and there ended not only the Qing dynasty but also the art of Tourmaline mining in California.
Tourmalines have been prized gemstones for both royals and mere mortals for decades. It became known as the “American Gem” in the late 1800s as George F Kunz, the renowned glittering gemologist from Tiffany & Co had very much lauded and promoted the deposits found in California! Such was the hype that the first commercial mine was opened in 1898. The excitement even travelled afar to the Chinese shores, and the Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi is said to have been so utterly obsessed with Pink Tourmaline that a 120 tonnes of Rubellite was sent to Imperial China over a seven year period:1902 to 1910. When Empress Dowager Cixi shuffled off her mortal coil she was laid to rest on a Pink Tourmaline Pillow and there ended not only the Qing dynasty but also the art of Tourmaline mining in California.
Fast forward to the 1960s and 1970s the famous jeweller to many a monarch globally, Andrew Grima, took up the Tourmaline gauntlet and made the gemstone an absolute modern day celebrity!
Tourmalines have oft been mistaken for other gemstones such as Rubies and Emeralds. “Caesar’s Ruby” which is found in the Russian Crown Jewels has been discovered to be a Rubellite and a lot of the Spanish Conquistador’s loot were in fact Verdelites rather than Emeralds.
In terms of magical myths, the Egyptians believed that the Tourmaline during its mineral formation flew over a rainbow as it made its journey from Earths core - hence it is why it comes in all the colours of the rainbow!!
Description:
| Birthstone: | October |
| Wedding_Anniversary: | 8th Wedding Anniversary |
| Colour: | All colours from colourless to black |
| Origin: | Brazil, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, USA |
| Chemical_Formula: | XY3Z6(T6O18(BO3)3V3W |
| Mineral: | Crystal Silicate Mineral |
| MOHS: | Hardness Scale 7 - 7.5 |
-
Sort by
