Tourmaline

TourmalineThis Tourmaline stone has a lovely Trillion Brilliant cut with a unique "honey gold" color, which shows a bit of pleochroism with slight golden, orange, greenish and yellow hues. Interestingly, the gem shows different colors in different lighting, and even changes depending upon the angle which it is viewed! The piece of rough for this stone was acquired by my father decades ago from Manuel Bettencourt Dias who brought back some excellent specimens

though it is a bit brittle

so it’s not completely colorless

excellent luster and that classic glowing ruby red hue

The pieces from Bolivia are reminiscent of the classic and highly sought after Zambian specimens

and I would say it does look better in person

as we most often see what is called a “fish tail” habit with a somewhat narrow / slender appearance

Specimen# CO712B105

According to our source

It shows a wonderfully rich pink-red hue and looks great in any kind of light

Specimen # BOL711B222

Baddeley then sent more samples of that mineral

a single pocket of what is considered to be the finest discovery of the species known took place in one of the most unlikely of localities