In the mysterious world of semi-precious stones, the tourmaline is very unique. Its wide availability, its affordability along with its glorious, incomparable color spectrum make it one of the most famous gemstones in every culture. Tourmalines are gems with an incomparable variety of hues. The reason, according to an ancient Egyptian fable, is that the tourmaline, on its long journey up from the Centre of the Earth, flowed over a rainbow. In doing so, it acquired all the colors of the rainbow. And that is why it is still referred to as the 'gemstone of the rainbow' today.

Tourmalines are found almost all over the world. There are major deposits in Brazil, Sri Lankah and south-west Africa. Although there are plenty of gemstone deposits which contain tourmalines, good qualities and fine colors are not often discovered among them. For this reason, the price spectrum of the tourmaline is almost as broad as that of its color.

No two tourmalines are exactly identical. This gemstone has an endless amount of faces, and for that reason it satisfies all emotions. No wonder that magical powers have been assigned to it since ancient times. In particular, it is the gemstone of love and of friendship, and is said to render them firm and long-lasting. Koreans and Chinese also believe in wearing natural tourmalines to improve the blood circulation and to release back pains.

Some tourmaline gems, especially pink to red colored stones, are altered by irradiation to improve their color. Irradiation is almost impossible to detect in tourmalines, and does not impact the value. Heavily-included tourmalines, such as rubellite and Brazilian paraiba, are sometimes clarity enhanced.