Trigem Designs: Peridot


			Pastel bubblegum to hot pink

			Pink tourmaline is a member of the tourmaline family, the gem world's most colorful gem. Tourmaline is found in every color of the rainbow and also sometimes shows more than one color in a single crystal.

			Pink tourmaline is found all over the globe, including Brazil, Afghanistan, California, Madagascar, and Mozambique.

			Pink tourmalines often have inclusions, especially if the color is bright.

			Sizes from 0.5 carat to 5 carats are in regular supply. Much larger stones are also available.

			Ovals, cushions, round brilliants, trillions, barion cuts, princess cuts, and checkerboard cushions.

			There are naturally colored pink to red tourmalines on the market as well as stones color enhanced by radiation, so be sure to ask. Stones guaranteed to be a "natural" color bring a premium. The actual enhanced stones are generally undetectable and the color is stable and does not require any special care. Since toumalines are treated with low level radiation there is none in the stone once released to the market.

			Because its colors mimic those of other gems, tourmaline was often misidentified in the ancient world. Some of the "rubies" in the Russian Crown Jewels are, in fact, tourmaline. The Empress Dowager Tz'u Hsi, the last Empress of China, loved pink tourmaline so much that she was buried with her carved tourmaline pillow. At the turn of the century, she bought almost a ton of tourmaline from the newly discovered Himalaya Mine in California.

			Tourmaline has a Mohs hardness of 7 to 7.5 and is durable and suitable for everyday wear.

			TClean with mild dish soap: use a toothbrush to scrub behind the stone where dust can collect.

			$150 to $900 per carat. There has been a big price increase over the past few years. Exceptionally fine gems can sell for as much as $1500 per carat.

			Tourmaline has unusual electrical properties: crystals acquire a polarized electrical charge when heated or compressed. This property has also made tourmaline the latest miracle ingredient in cleansing lotions: manufacturers say the gem can increase a product's ability to pull pollutants from the pores.