TOURMALINE
Tourmaline
has become probably the best selling 'semi-precious' in recent years.
This may partly be due to Paloma Picasso's signature range for Tiffany
a few years ago.
The enormous variety of colours in which Tourmaline
is available was surely a major inspiration for this talented designer.
Some of the colours in the group have been give special names such
as the red I pink variety known as Rubelite or blue which is known
as Indicolite and brown /cognac as Dravite.
Green Tourmaline comes
in a wide range of shades but the rare Emerald green variety is
popularly known as Chrome Tourmaline, which relates to the traces
of Chromium, which give this its unique colour.
Zambia has been
mining Tourmalines for many years - the most famous mine being Hofmeyer
Mine near Nyimba. Production there has dropped in recent years but
occasionally some fine greens and deep reds are recovered by local
diggers at this now abandoned mine.
The pink deposits from near Mkushi offer some of the best rubelite we have ever seen in this
country and new deposits are constantly being found all over the
Eastern Province. Indicolite has been seen but is often mistaken
for blue Sapphire by the local dealers whose disappointment is quite
obvious at point of sale!
