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TOURMALINE GEMSTONES : And I'd agree with you as to the potential future for chrometourmalines...Andy,I tried to post a reply to your request for information yesterday but as I do not see it this morning I must have been successful. My forte is gemstones, I'm just getting used to net. Chrome tourmaline, while being one of the more collectable of the tourmaline family, is not exceedingly rare nor prohibitively costly(depending upon your perspective I suppose). These are two of the attractive aspects of the tourmaline family in general. Tourmaline is a complex boron aluminum silicate and is an allochromatic gem( one in which in an absolutely pure state, has no color), but comes in so many hues that it is nicknamed the great pretender. Chrome tourmaline is so titled because the metallic impurity imparting color is chrome, a trace compound responsible for some of the most striking greens and reds in the gem kingdom. In most green tourmalines, the coloring agent is iron, which produces a more muted green color(though I would disagree with a previous assertion that it is unattractive).
TOURMALINE GEMSTONES : Because its color is typically more intense, and the fact that is in more limited supply as well as found in smaller sizes, chrome tourmaline will typically command a higher price per carat in the market place. Also, while not common, both chrome tourmaline and tsavorite garnet(another popular green newcomer to the gem world) do indeed exceed 8 to 10 carat sizes and are reasonably available to the collector who is willing to pay the premium commanded for these unusual specimens.As to your question of availability and pricing in the one to two carat size you should be able to acquire an excellent specimen in these sizes for between 500 and 1000 dollars per carat at the retail level. As always with colored gems, you can buy for considerably less than this and could always pay more. You need to be educated as to what the difference is between what we call "fine" or "gem" quality in our industry and what is more commercial material. The prices I show above relate to fine examples of chrome tourmaline with excellent clarity and superb cutting.
TOURMALINE GEMSTONES : the trinker sets down her drink on the table next to her, props up herfeet and begins another gemology lecture...tourmaline is a transparent gemstone that comes in a wide rangeof colors. Rhodolite and indicolite are the red and blue versions.There's also chrome tourmaline, which is vivid green, and watermelon,which is red on the inside and green on the outside, with a narrowwhite band, sometimes between the two colors. There's alsoreverse watermelon, known by various names. Those are cutinto slabs to show off the structure.You'll also see bi-colored and tri-colored tourmaline, whichis cut in long bars (either showing the crystal structure, or aslong baguette shapes) with various colors stackedlike one of those red-white-and-blue popsicles,It's also been used for carvings. There's a mine in San Diegocounty, known as Pala, that supplied the last dowager empressof China, who was an avid collector. Brazil is also a goodsource of tourmalines.
TOURMALINE GEMSTONES : For those of you who've been following along, green tourmalineis the other stone that may have been the "viking compass".Old sources cite green tourmaline as an excellent lens materialfor sunglasses, because of its polarizing ability. (You're betteroff now buying polarizing glass or plastic. it's cheaper and easierto take care of)Actually, I've seen a lot of *raw* tourmaline crystals in the localrock shops that have a rather *wide* white band between the red and thegreen. It's hexagonal prisms, and tends to be red at one end and greenat the other,m with the clear section in between. It's been so longsince I visited the shops that I can't recall *which* end was red andwhich was green.How old are these sources, could you give a reference? think some SCAfolk might be interested if they go back far enough.
TOURMALINE GEMSTONES : I think there's a little confusion here. Tourmaline grows in long(hexagonal) rods. Sometimes the cross section shows concentricred/white/green (watermelon) or green/white/red (reverse).It also grows "stacks" of colors, with red or green at the ends.And yes, the white section could be as wide as the red and green sections, but in the concentric variety, this is not as desirable.As I've stated before, there are old stories about gemstones at leastas far back as old Sanskrit texts and references in the Bible. The"viking compass" stories would have to date back to the Viking era,allegedly, but I haven't ever seen citations for period text. I knowthat I've heard that Roman emperors used tourmaline sunshades, but Idon't have any reliable sources on that information. If you're interested, I'll ask the librarians at GIA (Gemological Instituteof America).
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