When talking about precious jewelry, the first things that come to mind are diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and rubies. The same happens when talking about precious stones and their price. However, there are also incredibly beautiful gems that are little known and that could be as expensive or more expensive than those most recognized by most people. Such is the case of Paraíba tourmaline, which is considered one of the most expensive gems in the world.
Tourmaline belongs to a group of class VIII minerals, known as silicates. Its name comes from the Sinhalese word “touramalli”, which means, mixed colored stones such denomination was mainly applied to stones such as zircons. There is another theory that name is related to the Sinhalese word “turamali”, which means stone that attracts ashes, which refers to its ability to acquire an electrical polarity when subjected to high temperatures.
As for its color, it can be presented in almost all colors, from transparent or colorless -called acroite- to black -called plover or dravite-, going through red, blue, pink and green, with dark greens and pink tones prevailing – called elbaite, liddicoatite- the brown or yellow -dravite, buergerite-. The most prominent is the green color more similar to emerald green and the Paraíba variety, which has a vivid electric blue (Paraíba tourmaline) and the one mentioned in this article.
Likewise, the rarest shade is the blue variety (called indigolite). Red tourmaline is called rubellite, and green tourmaline is called verdelite, although these names are not associated with the species. Even many tourmalines can have several colors in the same crystal. For example, the watermelon tourmaline is one of those that can present a gradient that goes from red to green, due to its association with the fruit.
Now, when talking about the Paraíba tourmaline, reference is made to one of the most recognized discoveries of gemology during the 20th century, whose name comes from its place of origin, Paraíba, a state full of precious stones in a tropical country, Brazil.
According to the geography of this territory, the The state of Paraíba is made up of resistant and very old rocks, dating approximately from the Precambrian period, that is, at least 2.5 billion years. These rocks form a deep crystalline space naturally arranged for the production of beautiful gems.
It was in 1987, when the spectacular tourmalines came to light, those that today are known as «Paraíba tourmalines», thanks to the tireless work of geologist Héctor Dimas Barbosa. This is the only variety of tourmaline that contains copper and is responsible for its wonderful color and intense shine.
The Paraíba tourmaline is one of those gems that breaks with the paradigm that the diamond is the most expensive gemstone in the world, since there are clearly other pieces that can surpass it in beauty and in its value per carat. What is this about? In the first place to the demand, secondly to the beauty and thirdly to how difficult it is to find them and extract them from nature.
In the jewelry market, the Paraíba Tourmaline and the also known Tanzanite reaches a price per carat of more than 800,000 euros, which is far from the 10,000 euros per carat of diamonds that have starred in so many moments for so many people in the world.. This abysmal difference is due to the fact that for every 10,000 diamonds that are extracted from nature, only one Paraíba tourmaline is obtained.
Interestingly, a few years ago, in 2003, a new wave of luminous blue-green tourmalines appeared, these came from the copper mountains located in Mozambique and Nigeria. Very similar to Paraíba in every way, with very few chemical differences from those of Brazil, these have been able to weigh up to five carats or more.
Some of the theories indicate that due to the resemblance between the gems, both territories at some point in the history of planet earth, must have been united (the remembered Pangea) and were separated due to a large number of tectonic movements, for thousands of years.
Finally, beyond its beauty and its rarity, this gem cannot be known if there are no brands or people in the world who invest in them. Fortunately, important fashion houses like Dior, or the quintessential jewelry house Tiffany & Co were among the first to use Paraíba do Brasil in their jewelry; also, thanks to customers like Taylor Swift, Heidi Klum and Salma Hayek who wore them and thus attracted the attention of jewelry lovers worldwide, as well as the media, making the Paraíba Tourmaline the most valued in the world.