Tourmaline
Tourmaline occurs in the widest array of colors of any gemstone species.
Sometimes as many as two or three colors exist in the same cut stone. Tourmaline
is also known under different names: The “rubelite” is red, sometimes with a
violet tint. Fine “chrome” tourmaline has a beautiful rich green color.
“Indicolite” ranges from very light to dark shades of blue, violet blue, and
greenish blue.
The name “tourmaline” has its origins in the Sinhalese word “Turmali”, which
means mixture. Originally, native miners applied this term to mixed parcels of
gems when they didn’t really know what the stones were. Tourmaline is sometimes
known as an alternate birthstone for October, and the accepted anniversary
gemstone for the eighth year of marriage.
Tourmalines are found mainly in Brazil, Sri Lanka, Africa and the U.S.A.