Gemstone encyclopedia
Tourmaline — meaning, history and vintage jewelry
Tourmaline covers a wider color range than any other gem species, from the pink and green of watermelon crystals to the electric neon blue of Paraiba. It rates 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale. In antique jewelry it appears more often than people expect, frequently mislabeled, because pink tourmaline was long sold under names borrowed from ruby and green tourmaline as a form of emerald.
What tourmaline is
Rubellite is the pink to red variety, indicolite the blue, verdelite the green, and watermelon a single crystal that shifts color from a pink core to a green rim. Copper bearing Paraiba tourmaline, found in Brazil in the late 1980s, is a modern discovery and cannot be present in genuinely antique jewelry.
Tourmaline is strongly pleochroic, so cutters orient the stone carefully. Long emerald cuts and elongated cushions are common because the rough grows in prisms.
Color and hardness
- Species
- Tourmaline, a complex borosilicate group
- Color
- Almost every color, including bicolor and watermelon crystals
- Mohs hardness
- 7 to 7.5
- What that means in wear
- Durable for most jewelry, though long thin stones can be vulnerable.
How to care for tourmaline
- Warm soapy water and a soft brush.
- Avoid ultrasonic and steam cleaning, especially for included or liquid bearing stones.
- Protect long, narrow stones from knocks at the ends.
Our full house rules, including what the one year warranty does and does not cover, are in the care & warranty guide.
History and symbolism
Dutch traders brought Sri Lankan tourmaline to Europe in the eighteenth century, and Victorian jewelers used it widely. The Empress Dowager Cixi's fondness for Californian pink tourmaline created a substantial nineteenth century trade between the United States and China.
Traditionally read as a stone of balance and reconciliation, drawing on its ability to hold two colors in one crystal.
Tourmaline in vintage and antique jewelry
Victorian and Edwardian gold pieces with pink and green tourmaline; Arts and Crafts silver with cabochons; mid century gold cocktail rings with large elongated stones.
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Tourmaline pieces in our collection
Every curated vintage, antique and estate piece is one of a kind and checked by our jewelry specialists in the Netherlands. If nothing is right today, we will look for it.
Frequently asked questions
- Can antique jewelry contain Paraiba tourmaline?
- No. Copper bearing Paraiba tourmaline was only discovered in the late 1980s, so a genuine antique piece cannot contain it.
- Was tourmaline often sold as something else?
- Yes. Before modern gemology, pink tourmaline was sold as a ruby type and green tourmaline as emerald. Period documents describing a stone are not proof of what it is.
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