Tourmaline

Every color in one gem

No other gem comes in as many colors. A single tourmaline crystal can even shift from pink to green.

Hardness: 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale
Colors: Nearly every color, often more than one
Birthstone: October
Family: Tourmaline group

Chapter one

The mixed-color stone

The name comes from the Sinhalese turmali, a word for mixed gems. For centuries tourmaline was confused with other stones because of its endless range of color.

Its name comes from the Sinhalese toramalli, “mixed gems,” as early traders found crystals of many colors in the same deposits. Legend tells that tourmaline traveled along a rainbow from the earth’s heart, collecting all its colors along the way.

Its name means mixed gems.

Chapter two

Color in every shade

Tourmaline is a family of minerals, and small changes in chemistry give it pink, green, blue, yellow and more. Watermelon tourmaline is pink at the heart and green at the rim.

The famous “watermelon” variety, with a pink core and green rim, is one of nature’s most delightful surprises. Tourmaline is also pyroelectric and piezoelectric: it can generate an electrical charge when heated or compressed, a property that fascinated Enlightenment scientists. Pink is said to encourage love and compassion, green healing and vitality, black protection and blue (indicolite) calm and clarity.

Watermelon tourmaline is pink inside and green outside.

Chapter three

Made to stack

At 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale, tourmaline is durable for everyday wear, and its many colors make it a natural for stacking.

Worth knowing

Tourmaline can show several colors in a single crystal.
Watermelon tourmaline has a pink core and a green rim.
Paraíba tourmaline from Brazil, discovered in the 1980s, glows with electric neon color and is among the rarest gems in existence.
Tourmaline can generate an electrical charge when heated or compressed.
Pink tourmaline was a favorite of Empress Dowager Cixi of China.
Tourmaline is a birthstone of October.