Tourmaline

Tourmaline comes in almost every imaginable color. Many of the more popular colors have names of their own. Here's a list of some of those names and what they mean:

Elbaite Tourmaline: Typical green Tourmaline. It ranges in shade from pastel to very dark green.

Rubellite: Rubellite is red Tourmaline. How red it has to be to be called a rubellite is a matter of some debate. Some people consider all shades of pink to be rubellite. Others believe that only truely red specimens should be called rubellite and that pink tourmaline should just be referred to as pink tourmaline.

Indicolite: Blue Tourmaline. Usually a very dark blue although very nice stones are sometimes a beautiful sapphire blue. Sometimes blueish green stones are also called Indicolite.

Watermelon Tourmaline: This is a bi-colored tourmaline like the one at the top of this page, that is red on one end and green on the other, Like a slice of watermelon. Sometimes it is even tri-colored, with a band of white between the red and green that really emulates watermelon! This is a very popular and very distinctive stone.

Paraiba Tourmaline: Paraiba isn't really a specific color but a variety. It is names after the Paraiba region of Brazil where it was first found. It is distinguished by its bright, neon color, usually blue or blueish-green, that is unlike anything else. It is spectacular. Originally the term applied only to the electric blue tourmaline found in Paraiba, but now is used to describe any tourmaline with a high copper content that gives it its brilliant, electic color. Paraiba tourmaline is the most valuable tourmaline, sometimes selling for thousands of dollars per caret for top grade, top color, genuine stones.

Anchorite: Colorless Tourmaline

Chrome Tourmaline: Green tourmaline from Africa, where the green color comes from traces of Chromium.

Dravite: Brown Tourmaline

Schorl: Black Tourmaline