Tourmaline

Item Description

San Diego County (California) has several gem tourmaline mines, but the Himalaya Mine is one of the most prominent tourmaline mines in the world. Opened in 1898, it is famous for beautiful green and pink gems. But, only about 5% of these tourmalines are gem-grade, and even fewer were capable of producing large stones like this 48.7 carat oval tourmaline. These factors make the example offered here so special. A lightly included, museum-sized pink oval brilliant cut with a luscious, velvety “glow” and a color that is completely natural and untreated. Tourmalines of course have very good hardness (7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale) that is suitable for any jewelry use, and pink tourmaline is the modern October birthstone. This superb gem is therefore perfect for a display collection or as the centerpiece in a show-stopping jewelry piece. A Himalaya Mine gem of this quality is much more rare, and generally valued highly by collectors, than from contemporary Brazilian production. Much cleaner and gemmier in person! (N)