All About Pink Tourmaline: Types, Colors, Description, Origins & Details
What can captivate our eye better than a gemstone rich in hot pink color?
Yes we’re talking about Pink Tourmaline: beaming, elegant and romantic. The queen like appearance of Pink Tourmaline is certainly what we’re all a fan of. No doubt it’s become such a sought after gemstone to embed our jewelry with, be it an engagement ring or a necklace. Pretty in pink just got real, right? The hot pink beauty that it carries gets us pretty curious to know everything under the roof about this October birthstone. And that’s exactly what Our Pink Tourmaline education guide is here to facilitate us all with. Right from the history and beliefs to the famous 4 C’s (carat, cut, color and clarity) and properties. Fun and knowledge combined basically! Buying the right Pink Tourmaline gemstone is not so difficult anymore. Let’s take you to this fun filled ride.
Properties of Pink Tourmaline
Hardness
Having a hardness rating of 7-7.5 on Moh’ scale which is slightly on the higher side, Pink Tourmaline is known to be pretty durable and can be worn on a regular basis with proper care.
Composition
Wondering what gives Tourmaline the hot pink color? Well, it is all thanks to the presence of manganese, iron and aluminum in its composition. Talking about its specific chemical composition, it consists of boron silicate.
Fluorescence
Pink Tourmaline when tested in the presence of ultraviolet light is observed to fluoresce none to very weak red reaction under both long wavelength and short wavelength UV light.
Origin & History
How did this pink beauty come into picture? What exactly gave rise to its ever increasing hype? Let’s take a look with our pink tourmaline guide. The history of this October birthstone is not that old, dating back to 1700s or 1800s when it was discovered by Dutch on Italian coasts. Thanks to its hot pink color hues, it initially got confused with Ruby. Since it was a colored stone, it was given the name ‘turmali’ in Sri Lanka. And of course this magical gemstone came with its share of beliefs with ancient people even using it to decrease fever of a child and put him to sleep, as claimed by a Dutch scientist. While in Africa it was a hailed as a stone that put people away from the dream of illusions, in India it was even known to give people an idea of the cause of their worries. Different countries, different beliefs but the craze of this hot pink beauty was just as much.
Where is Pink Tourmaline found?
Wondering where exactly is Pink Tourmaline mined today? Let’s give you a glance with our Pink Tourmaline guide. Well, you’re in luck since Pink Tourmaline can be abundantly found all over the world with the leading producers of top notch quality being Brazil and Namibia’s Muzo mines, followed by United States, Nigeria, Mozambique, Madagascar and Afghanistan. Talking about its specific formation, Tourmaline occurs from the famous process of mineral crystallization inside the pegamitite rock, a kind of igneous rock. It has a hot liquid carry different minerals inside it which upon cooling, gives rise to the process of mineral crystallization. And that’s exactly what gives birth to our favorite Pink Tourmaline.
Pink Tourmaline versus Pink Sapphire
Pink Tourmaline
Well first and foremost, let’s discuss the USP: its color. The bright color of this gemstone ranges from light pink to hot pink with a hint of red. Other than that, as you would have read in our pink tourmaline guide, it is abundantly available worldwide. Apart from that, it has a hardness rating of 7-7.5 on Moh’s scale and is known to enhance self love, compassion and friendship.
Pink Sapphire
It has a color ranging from a very pale pink to magenta pink, contrary to its tourmaline counterpart. Interestingly, it is quite rare to find. Along with that, it has a pretty good hardness rating of 9 and is known to symbolize love, strength and fortune.
Pink Tourmaline Quality and Price Filters
Don’t leave your seats already! Here we arrive at the most integral part. No pink tourmaline education is complete without a glance of the 4 factors that determine its quality, typically the 4 Cs: cut, color, clarity and carat weight. Let’s give you a glance, so that you can judge your gemstone better with our pink tourmaline buying guide:
Color
Color is the driving factor for determining the quality of Pink Tourmaline, as is the case with other colored gemstones. It has a soothing and bright color ranging from light pink to hot rosy pink with a hint of red. The general rule still is the same, the saturation of the pink color increases, the value of the gemstone increases. However, if the saturation reaches to a point where the Tourmaline starts to appear opaque the price eventually decreases exponentially.
Clarity
Thanks to its unique formation in hot liquid that carries minerals, it is known to possess some inclusions which are actually the same liquids that fail to get out of the stone. And pink tourmaline is no exception! It does consist some eye visible inclusions but that doesn’t come between its beauty since it possesses a radiant hot pink color. In order to look for inclusions, you can hold the tourmaline face up 12 inches from your eyes and inspect if you can find any inclusions. The most common type of inclusions found in tourmaline can be thread-like cavities.
Carat
The weight of Pink Tourmaline does have a slight impact on its price, combined with other factor and the best part is, since it is abundantly found, it is not as tough to find a large crystal of Pink Tourmaline.
Cut
For the Pink Tourmaline, there can be many cuts such as faceted, cabochons, beads, drops, carvings etc. In terms of price, cut stones occupy the position of costliest followed by cabochons and beads. The most sought after cut is a cabochon cut which interestingly, radiates a cat like effect, all thanks to the presence of inclusions.
Pink Tourmaline Grading Value
The most efficient, easy and effective way to judge the quality of this hot pink gemstone better! A grading system works like a charm indeed. We have come up with a pink tourmaline grading chart to help you get well versed with all kind of pink tourmaline possessing different qualities. Let’s get started:
AAAA (Heirloom)
The category grade itself suggests how valuable and in turn rare it is! With only 1 % of all Pink Tourmaline belonging to this category, it is known to possess a clarity free of eye visible inclusions to slightly included. And of course, it is known for its rich rosy/deep pink color.
AAA (Best)
Another sought after and quite rare category! With only 10 % of all Pink Tourmaline belonging to this category, it is known to possess a slightly included clarity along with an alluring medium pink color.
AA ( Better)
With top 33 % of all Pink Tourmaline belonging to this category, it is known to possess an included clarity along with pink color ranging between light to medium.
A ( Good)
Lesser in value than its counterparts, the pink tourmaline belonging to this category are known to possess heavy included clarity along with a light pink color. That makes it less desirable than its counterparts.
Benefits of Pink Tourmaline
Nobody can skip this part! Every gemstone does come with its share of astrological beliefs and magical abilities, having been known to possess ever since it’s discovered and Pink Tourmaline is also not behind. The romantic and radiant pink color would’ve given you an idea of that. Let’s give you a glance with our pink tourmaline education guide:
Physical Healing
Having ties with heart chakra and solar plexus chakra, this October birthstone is known to help with all kinds of heart problems including irregular heart beat. Apart from that, it is also known to help with sleep problems, high fevers and hair fall issues. In fact, anciently people used it to help children suffering from high fever and put them to sleep.
Emotional Healing
Similar to its soothing pink color, Pink Tourmaline is known to enhance understanding, compassion and listening abilities of the wearer. It radiates positivity, happiness and instills a sense of confidence.
Spiritual Benefits
It aligns the physical body to the spiritual being of the wearer, thus bringing harmony and soothing energy to his life. Of course, it has been hailed as one of the most popular symbols of love and thus strengthens unconditional love and friendship in the life of the wearer.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is a Pink Tourmaline formed?
In nature, Tourmaline is formed in pegmatites - the voids present deep in ground and are filled with hot liquid rich in all kinds of minerals. Tourmaline crystals are formed as a result of cooling of the liquid. These pegmatites usually occur in the host rocks such as granite and in some cases can grow in rocks like marble.
What is difference between lab grown and natural Pink Tourmaline?
Like most of the gemstones, there is an option to choose between natural and lab-created Pink Tourmaline. One must not confuse “lab grown” with the “fake”. While synthetic is a replica the lab grown is developed in a controlled lab environment.
Generally, lab created gemstones tend to be free from inclusions and blemishes and are found to be inexpensive as compared to natural counterparts.
Where do Pink Tourmaline come from?
Tourmaline is available in plentiful quantity and can be found almost everywhere in the world, however, a few noteworthy producers of tourmaline include Brazil, Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya, Madagascar, California and many more.
How to take care of Pink Tourmaline Jewelry?
Pink Tourmaline Jewelry is quite easy to clean due to their hardness and durability. However, a few things must be kept in mind like avoiding contact of the gemstone with make-up, harsh chemicals, abrasives.
While cleaning the jewelry make use of lukewarm water and mild cleaning detergent. Soft toothbrush can be used to clean the underside of the Pink Tourmaline.
Also, the jewelry must be individually kept to avoid contact with other jewelry to avoid unnecessary scratches.
What is a Pink Tourmaline certification?
The most common Pink Tourmaline Certifications includes from GIA, IGS and HRD labs. It is usually a document you receive on the behalf of the aforementioned 3rd party labs which describes a tourmaline in all of its characteristics.
Each and every party’s defining grounds may defer.
What is the birthstone of Pink Tourmaline?
Pink Tourmaline is known to be the birthstone of October, making it extra lucky for all the October babies out there.
What does Pink Tourmaline symbolize?
Pink Tourmaline has long been believed to symbolize peace, compassion, love and wisdom. It also has ties with heart chakra and blesses the wearer with joy and happiness, similar to its color.
How can you tell if pink tourmaline is real?
One unique and differentiating property of Pink Tourmaline is that it can display a slight change of color if you put it into light. Thus, if you want to identify whether your Tourmaline is real or not, try exposing it to an artificial light and see it displays a brownish hue of color.
Pink Tourmaline Collection
Conclusion
Pink Sapphire: romantic, feminine and graceful! Its delicate beauty is to die for! Being hailed as a favorite among women, it gets us curious to know everything under the roof about it. What makes this September birthstone so special? What is the history behind it? How do we judge the quality? Well, not as difficult as it may sound with our Pink Sapphire education guide! We’ve tried to cover everything under our radar right from the engrossing history to properties and the 4 Cs. Information and fun can go hand in hand indeed with our pink sapphire buying guide. That being said, we’re going better educated about this September birthstone from here. Here we sign off wishing you all the luck!