October - The Month of Tourmaline
Tourmaline, The birthstone of October.
Hope you are all surviving through this rainy week, let’s read about Tourmaline and forget about the weather for a minute. Those born in October enjoy two spectacular birthstones, opal and tourmaline to commemorate their birthdays. Both October birthstones have endless colour combinations and beautiful colouring characteristics but today we are going to focus on tourmaline.
Tourmaline is the most colourful of all gemstones. It occurs in all colors, Among the most popular are the pink and red rubellites, the emerald green “chrome” tourmalines, and the neon green and blue-to-violet “paraíba” tourmalines. The name - Tourmaline comes from the Sinhalese word toramalli, which means “stone with mixed colours”, because it often has multiple colours in one crystal. Very few gems match tourmaline’s dazzling array of colours. The value of Tourmaline has a very large range. The more common forms can be fairly inexpensive, but the rarer and more exotic colors can command very high prices. The most expensive and valuable form of Tourmaline is the rare neon-blue form known by the trade name Paraiba Tourmaline.
Because of its vast range of colours, tourmaline was often mistaken for other gemstones. One of the “rubies” in the Russian crown jewels, the “Caesar’s Ruby” pendant, is actually red (rubellite) tourmaline. A Spanish conquistador found green tourmaline crystals in Brazil in the 1500s and confused the stones with emerald. These and other cases of mistaken identity continued for centuries until scientists recognised tourmaline as a distinct mineral species in the 1800s.
At ikku London we have pink tourmalines in our Gold Chain Collection which embodies love and is associated with compassion and gentleness:
Pink Tourmaline Chain ring - 18k yellow gold with square cut pink tourmaline - £275
Rainbow Chain Ring - 18k yellow gold with blue sapphire, emerald, peridot, blue topaz, and pink tourmaline - £275
Square up Ear Hook - 18k yellow gold with square cut blue topaz, peridot, citrine, pink tourmaline and amethyst - £225 (single)
Thank you for reading.
Until next week, be ikku!