Introduction to Gemology with Jeffery Bergman — tourmaline

Hey Loungers, Have you heard of Tourmalines before? If not, read on as Jeff "Master" Bergman takes us through this lovely and colorful family of gems! Tourmaline's name comes from the Sinhalese word "turmali," which means "mixed." Bright rainbow collections of gemstone varieties were called "turmali" parcels. Tourmalines, occurring in more colors and combinations of colors than any other gemstone variety, lives up to its name. There is a tourmaline that looks like almost any other gemstone! Many stones in the Russian Crown jewels from the 17th Century once thought to be rubies are actually tourmalines. Learn more about this...

A new tourmaline variety discovered in 1989 left gem dealers searching for new adjectives to describe the brilliant blues and greens that are more vivid than any ever seen before. Tourmaline is the most colorful variety of any gemstone but, until the Paraiba deposit was found, no tourmaline had ever shown the intense turquoise, electric blue, rich sapphire blues, neon and emerald greens of the new discovery in Paraiba, Brazil. In fact, these colors haven't ever been seen with any consistency in any gemstone variety.   Featured in this picture is a Nigerian Paraiba type tourmaline - Asia Lounges Collection...