About Tourmaline (Green)
History and Folklore
Because of its astonishing variety of color, tourmaline has been popular throughout history. The last empress of China, Dowager Tz’u His, favored tourmalines for their rich pink color. For centuries they adorned the jewelry and crowns of royalty. It comes from the Sinhalese word turamali, meaning “stone with mixed colors.
Facts and Information
Tourmalines come in a variety of colors - pink, purplish red, blue, and shades of green. Pink tourmaline is also the birthstone for October. Other than the classic pink and green hues there are several different types of tourmaline: • Rubellite - Latin word for reddish, loosely applied to red to a darker pinkish color. • Bi-color - shows multicolor in the stone. Can be almost any color combination. • Indicolite - dark, rich blue hue. • Chrome Tourmaline - intense deep green colored by vanadium and chromium. • “Watermelon” - bi-color tourmaline with pink, reds and green colors usually dividing the stone into colored halves.
Major Sources
Identification and Characteristics
- R.I.: 1.624 - 1.644 (+.011, -.009)
- Hardness: 7 - 7.5
- S.G.: 3.06 (+.20, -.06)
Cleaning Methods
- Never clean with a steamer
- Never clean in the ultrasonic
- Use warm, soapy water to clean
