Color
Amongst the most popular and sought-after colors, are the red/pink variety of tourmaline, known as rubellite tormaline because of their resemblance to rubies.
Green Tourmaline are an alternative to the deep and rich hues of Emeralds or the softer greens of Peridot, because of their stunning pastel hues. The highest quality green tourmalines are transparent, clean, and brilliant with beautiful bluish-green hues. Many green varieties of the stone are highly pleochroic, meaning that their color changes depending on the angle of the light and the angle of the gemstone. The gemstone that show bright green at one angle and blue green from another are the most valuable and desired pleochroic black tourmaline.
Chrome Tourmalines offer hues with higher saturation levels than most green tourmalines. These stones can be a cheaper alternative to Tsavorite or Emeralds, which are both rare to find in sizes over 2-carats. Meanwhile, finding larger chrome black tourmaline is rather common, as they are found in sizes up to 5-carats. While the tourmaline gem cannot match tsavorite in luster or brilliance, it is far cheaper than a tsavorite of the same size and quality.
The more common tourmalines on the market are dark-toned stone, but they aren’t as attractive as other varieties and colors. Some of these gems absorb light intensely from certain angles, making them appear completely black. Cutters will often fashion these stone with a table parallel to the length of the crystal. When a crystal is cut in this way, it might show a brownish or yellowish color through the crown. Dealers will often describe these gems as ‘oily’ or ‘olive’ green. However, their price tag is much lower than fine blue green tourmaline or brighter blue green stone.
Blue Tourmaline has a wide range of tones, from light to dark. However, the hue is often modified by green to give the stone a blue color with a hint of green modifying color or a more greenish color, while still being blue. There are also tourmalines with an equal amount of blue and green in their color. Like green tourmalines, blue stone can show a vivid color or a less saturated color, appearing grayish.
Paraiba Tourmalines are also blue in color, with a variety of different tones and hues, although blue and violet have the most appeal amongst buyers. While dealers name them a variety of ways to catch the attention of potential buyers.
The prices for Paraiba tourmalines are above other tourmaline due to being more attractive, having higher color saturation and being rarer than other tourmalines. They can easily be distinguished from most other tourmaline because of their brighter hues, lighter tones, and more saturated hues.
Bicolor, multicolor, and Watermelon tourmaline color zoning happens when the elements which make the stone change in concentration or composition during the formation of the crystal. Stones which show this property are often cut to showcase their exotic color combination. Gemologist call these tourmalines Parti-Colored.
You can also find tourmalines that are color-zoned the whole length of the crystal. For example, a crystal that starts of pink at one end, but is green at the other. The color zoning may also be parallel to the length of the stone, such is the case of Watermelon Tourmalines. They are given this name because the crystals have a color scheme that resembles the flesh and the rind of the fruit which gave them their name. It is not uncommon for designers and jewelers alike to exploit the watermelon colors and cut the tourmaline crystal into slices, rather than faceting a rough stone.