Tourmaline
Tourmaline
Color: Medium Light Very Slightly Yellowish-Green
Clarity: Eye Clean
Origin: Namibia
Cut: Pear
Treatments: None
Measurements: 9.3 x 6.9 mm
With a color that could be Afghani, or even Mozambican, this is a perfectly cut and entirely clean gem. The combination of light tone and very high saturation gives the color quite an intense quality. Great stone, just the type of rough that is now quite expensive.
$175 / carat - $299 total
Color: Medium Dark Bluish-Green
Clarity: Slightly Included
Origin: Mozambique
Cut: Rectangular Step
Treatments: None
Measurements: 12.7 x 4.7 mm
A stone that immediately attracted us with its lovely open bluish-green color and pleasing tone. The photos seem to really accentuate the thin fluid-type inclusions, yet in-hand the stone is close to eye clean - even cut as a rectangle which tends to bring such faults forward. They are certainly much less prevalent than the photos lead you to believe. The cutting is wonderfully done with zero windowing and the stone is a great size. A really lovely Mozambique stone at a reasonable cost level.
$65 / carat - $137 total
Color: Medium Dark Pink
Clarity: N/A
Origin: Mogok, Burma
Cut: Natural Crystal Group
Treatments: None
Measurements: 52.4 x 32.7 x 10 mm
Every so often a crystal or smallish specimen will strike us as something that is simply too interesting to pass up. Such is the case here, a fascinating group of gemmy pink Tourmaline crystals from Mogok. Most are fully terminated the piece is entirely double sided - flip the ‘plate’ of crystals and they are the same on the other side. Really a fun piece and quite lovely as a gem object as well. Fairly unusual to see these from Mogok as well.
$395 total
Color: Medium Very Slightly Yellowish-Green
Clarity: Eye Clean
Origin: Mozambique
Cut: Marquise
Treatments: Probable Heat
Measurements: 11.6 x 6 mm
Almost certainly a cuprian color, this gem is a very fine, vivid lime green hue. Like so many of these, the tone is comparatively light but the saturation is quite high. Gorgeous cutting, an absolute precision job - even if the marquise is not your favorite shape, it looks awfully good here. Lovely gem.
$220 / carat - $424 total
Color: Dark Green
Clarity: Transparent
Origin: Zambia
Cut: Hexagonal Cabochon
Treatments: None
Measurements: 10.1 x 8.7 x 3.4 mm
A very fine and acutely interesting gem from this very limited (and now older) find in Zambia. Originally thought to be Emerald when found these, quite unusually, tested out as Tourmaline. This is not a growth pattern that is common at all in Tourmaline and to have the graphite inclusions forming this lovely approximation of a trapiche pattern is quite rare. Overall, this is the most successful of these we have seen - whiles most are simply roughly polished crystal slices, this example is actually polished as a double sided domed cabochon. The pattern is very evident as such, and the color is classic ‘chrome’ Tourmaline. Excellent example.
$245 / carat - $485 total
Color: Dark Green
Clarity: Moderately Included
Origin: Brazil
Cut: Cut-Corner Rectangle
Treatments: None
Measurements: 7 x 4.4 mm
We have occasionally been able to offer these over the years - they are extremely interesting as one of the very few times that actual elemental copper is a visible inclusion in Tourmaline. They are known only from Brazil and have been documented for several decades. A very deep green, the bright, almost golden, platelets of precipitated copper reflecting nicely across the table. Quite hard to source and generally unavailable now.
$295 total
Color: Very Dark Blue
Clarity: Eye Clean
Origin: Nigeria
Cut: Rectangular Step
Treatments: None
Measurements: 6 x 5.5 mm
An interesting Tourmaline showing one of the most astonishingly blue bodycolors we have ever seen in in the species. If you are familiar with this material, you will immediately know its one downfall - it is quite dark in tone. Happily, in stones of this size, the color is very visible and quite impressive and the stone retains a good deal of brilliance. Great cutting and entirely clean - there is some pleochroism that will show a slightly greenish-blue oriented on one axis, but it is minimal and the blue is quite dominant. Lovely example, these are scarce now.
$275 / carat - $357 total
Color: Medium Yellow-Green / Brownish-Orange
Clarity: Eye Clean
Origin: Brazil
Cut: Rectangular Step
Treatments: None
Measurements: 23.7 x 3.5 mm
This one comes from some new old jeweler’s stock we recently explored. The type of larger, cleaner example that was so familiar to consumers in the 1980’s but is now rather difficult to affordably source. Lovely color separation and a timeless look indeed.
$85 / carat - $215 total
Color: Medium Dark Yellowish-Orange
Clarity: Eye Clean
Origin: Kenya
Cut: Oval Brilliant
Treatments: None
Measurements: 7.2 x 5.1 mm
When thinking about the scarcest colors for gem Tourmaline - a species revered for it’s breadth of colors - orange is one that deserves a mention. Aside from the brownish, and relatively dark, ‘dravite’ types, a medium and unmodified orange is not something we usually see. This gem stood out in a recent parcel - a very bright and clean orange that doesn’t have the baggage of a brown undertone. Lovely cutting and loupe clean.
$175 / carat - $180 total
Color: Dark Green
Clarity: Translucent
Origin: Zambia
Cut: Polished Slice
Treatments: None
Measurements: 12.9 x 12.9 mm
A very fine example from this very limited (and now older) find in Zambia. Originally thought to be Emerald when found these, quite unusually, tested out as Tourmaline. This is not a growth pattern that is common at all in Tourmaline and to have the graphite inclusions forming this lovely approximation of a trapiche pattern is quite rare. A really lovely stones with a fine, bright bodycolor and good contrast. These are entirely gone from the market at this point.
Color: Dark Yellow-Brown
Clarity: Eye Clean
Origin: Phakua, Koshi Pradesh, Nepal
Cut: Rectangular Step
Treatments: None
Measurements: 9.3 x 4.4 mm
We simply couldn’t resist the very specific and scarce locality of this gem. Nepal is not typically though of in terms of gem Tourmaline and indeed even Aquamarine is more well known from this very little mine in Eastern Nepal. Clean and nicely cut, the stone is a sort of Epidote-ish dark yellow brown. Outstanding for the specificity of its locale and rare as such.
$65 / carat - $104 total