Buy Tourmalines

Tourmaline comes in more than 50 different shades – from colorless to pink, red, yellow, brown, green, blue, and even black. Tourmaline, however, is often a gemstone with very high color saturation, particularly dark green, blue, or brown. The crystals usually combine different tones or colors, while single-colored ones are quite rare. Tourmalines are available in both translucent and opaque forms. Among the many different tourmaline varieties, green tourmaline (verdelite) and red or pink tourmaline (rubellite) are particularly popular. It was once believed that tourmaline could glow naturally. Today, we know that this assumption was based on the so-called pleochroism (multicolor), which is characteristic of these gemstones. This means that the stone shimmers in a different color or with varying intensity depending on the viewing direction. Cat's-eye tourmaline comes in a variety of colors. However, the light band is only truly sharp in the green and pink varieties. The reason for this is fibrous inclusions of foreign crystals or thin hollow channels. When tourmaline is heated and then cooled, the stone becomes electrically charged and attracts dust particles or small pieces of paper (pyroelectricity and piezoelectricity). The gemstone is then positively charged at one end and negatively charged at the other. In the Netherlands, electrically charged tourmaline was also used to clean pipes. The heated stones attracted tobacco ash. For this reason, tourmaline was long called an ash puller. By heating colored gemstones to 450 to 650°C, color changes are also possible. Green stones can take on an emerald color, reddish-brown ones a bright red. Others are merely lightened. With a Mohs hardness of 7 to 7.5, tourmaline is one of the more robust gemstones.

Tourmalines have been known in the Mediterranean region since ancient times, but it was not until 1703 that the Dutch brought them to Western and Central Europe. They called the often multi-colored, radiant gemstones with the Sinhalese word turamali - "stone with mixed colors". An old Egyptian legend says that the tourmaline must have passed over a rainbow on its way from the earth's interior and picked up its color there. This is where it is still called the "gemstone of heaven", which is still used today. Because the stone comes in many different shapes and colors, it was often confused with other gemstones in the past.

Particularly beautiful examples of the tourmaline gemstone are used in high-quality jewelry. In addition, the best in soccer receive a tourmaline award every year. For example, the championship trophy of the German soccer league is set with 21 tourmalines. The DFB Cup is also decorated with tourmaline gemstones. Tourmaline is the first crystal in which the pyroelectric effect was observed. Due to these special electrical properties, it is also used in electronics.