Birthstones - Tourmaline

King of Color

Pick a color – any color – and you’ll find a beautiful tourmaline to match. Occurring in more colors and combinations of colors than any other gem variety, tourmaline offers both vibrancy and beauty. And if an incredible range of colors among different tourmalines isn’t enough, individual crystals can vary in color along their length or width. The reason, according to an old Egyptian legend, is that the tourmaline, on its long journey up from the centre of the Earth, passed over a rainbow. In doing so, it assumed all the colors of the rainbow. And that is why it is still referred to as the 'gemstone of the rainbow' today.

Origin of Tourmaline

Tourmalines are found almost all over the world. There are major deposits in Brazil, Sri Lanka and South and south-west Africa. Other finds have been made in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Tourmalines are also found in the USA, mainly in California and Maine.

Although there are plenty of gemstone deposits which contain tourmalines, good qualities and fine colours are not often discovered among them. For this reason, the price spectrum of the tourmaline is almost as broad as that of its color.