Tourmaline gemstone

This page shows the Tourmaline Gemstones we currently have in stock.

Please notice that this gemstone is often spelled like turmaline, tormaline, tourmalin, tuormaline, or turmalin. All refer to the same gemstone.

Tourmaline gemstone is the classic exotic gemstone that comes in a fantastic array of colors including blue, red, yellow, pink and honey. Some of these stones have a bit of a rainbow flash to them or a subtle multi-coloring. Some varieties are dark chocolate brown thanks to its high iron content and it is known as a schorl. There is even a special type of turmaline gemstones known as an achroite that is colorless like quartz. Many of the most prized of tourmalines display two colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel such as purple and green.

A pink and green tourmaline is called “a watermelon.” An African tourmaline that is both a vivid green and blue is called a “neon” tourmaline. If the crystal is clear and just black at both ends, it is referred to as a 'Mohrenkopf'”.

The reason that there are so many different colors of tourmaline gemstones is because the gemstone itself is quite complex. It is a mixed crystal that consists mostly of aluminum boron silicate that is found naturally in hunks, spidery thin needles and elongated ringed column. Tourmalines were so good at masquerading as other gemstones that ancient jewel dealers referred to them as tumali, which means “mixed gemstones of unproven identities.”

They are particularly suited to jewelry designs that have an individual or unusual flair as not one of these stones is ever very much like the other. Many of the jewelry designs for a tourmaline gemstone accommodates the individuality of the stone. For instance a piece of Turk’s turquoise, which is red at one end and black at the other may make a good crystal point set in silver or gold. A piece of watermelon turmaline looks great sliced as a coin for a pendant or a brooch.

The charm of the tourmaline is that it is multicolored. In fact you could create a linked bracelet form one chunk of tourmaline and not have any stone in any of the settings be the same color. Art Deco jewelry designers recognized the charm of the tourmaline in this respect and would create entire Princess cut rings that featured the stones set in a spiral that appeared like a mound on the finger.

When shopping for these stones for resale or to create jewelry realize that most of your customers will be looking for a tourmaline that has 50/50 split in terms of its ability to reflect two colors, such as the granny apple green and soft pink featured in many tourmalines mined in Africa.

Spiritually the tourmaline gemstone is known as centering and grounding stones. This comes from the fact that tourmalines have high lithium content which is the same mineral that is used to calm manic depression. A selling point to a customer is definitely their folk healing reputation as stone that helps physically revive the body. These stones are also natural conductors of energy, which is why so many cosmetic companies nowadays are grinding them up and putting them into anti-aging creams.