TThe name tourmaline comes from the Singhalese words tura mali. In translation, this means something like “stone with mixed colors,” referring to the color spectrum of this gemstone, which outshines all other precious stones. There are tourmalines from red to green and from blue to yellow. They often have two or more colors. There are tourmalines that change their color when the light changes from daylight to artificial light, and some demonstrate the light effect of a cat’s eye. No two tourmalines are precisely alike. This gemstone has an endless number of faces, and for that reason, it suits all moods. No wonder that magical powers have been attributed to it since ancient times. In particular, it is the gemstone of everlasting love and firm friendship. Others believe that it provides protection from radiation.

Tourmalines are mixed crystals of aluminum boron silicate with a complex and varying composition. Slight changes in the composition cause completely different colors. Crystals of only a single color are quite rare. Without a doubt, the same crystal will often exhibit varying degrees of colors. Its diachronic property is what makes the tourmaline unique. Whichever angle you look at the gemstone, the color may be different or more or less intense. It is always at its most intense when viewed looking toward the main axis, a fact to which the cutter must pay great attention when facing up the cut. This gemstone has brilliant wearing qualities and is easy to look after for all tourmalines have a good hardness of 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale.

The green tourmaline is the predominantly popular variety. It is known as a ‘verdelite’ in the trade. However, if its fine emerald-like green is caused by tiny traces of chrome, it is referred to as a “chrome tourmaline.” The complete highlight among the tourmalines is the “Paraiba tourmaline,” a gemstone of an intense blue to blue-green that was not discovered until 1987 in a mine in the Brazilian state of Paraiba. Since tourmalines from Malawi with a vivid yellow color, known as “‘canary tourmalines,” came into the trade, the color yellow, which was formerly very limited indeed, has been very well represented in the endless spectrum of colors boasted by the “gemstone of the rainbow.”

Yet the tourmaline has even further names: stones with two colors are known as bicolored tourmalines, and those with more than two as multicolored tourmalines. Slices showing a cross-section of the tourmaline crystal are also very much admired because they display, even in a very small area, the total of the unique color variety of this gemstone. If red it at the centre of the slice and the area around it green, the stone is nicknamed “water melon.” In contrast, an almost colorless crystal surrounded with black is called a “Mohrenkopf,” which looks like one of the delicious German cakes.