California’s Tourmaline Rush

In my monthly search to uncover the secrets of October’s birthstones I learned a little nugget of information that surprised and intrigued me.  Apparently the Gold Rush was not the only precious metal/gemstone to create a craze in the hills of California.  Between 1898 and 1914, San Diego County California outdid Brazil, Burma and Ceylon when it came to the production of Tourmalines as the world; particularly China became crazy for California Pink Tourmalines.

Pink Tourmaline 

It began when Gemologist J.L. Tannenbaum, having seen a beautiful piece of pink  tourmaline from California, decided he needed to have more of this fantastic stone.  So posing as a consumptive looking to buy a mountain cabin among the healing air of California he scouted and purchased the Himalayan Mine.  He proceeded to mine a prodigious amount of these beautiful stones.

The Dowager Empress of China, Tzu Hsi

His chief purchaser was the dowager empress of China, Tzu Hsi, who could not get enough of California’s pink tourmaline, making it the de jour stone for the wealthy of China, where it was used not only in jewelry but in fantastic ornately carved snuff bottles, some of which can be seen in museums today.

Carved Pink Tourmaline Snuff Bottle

The empress loved tourmaline so much that on her death and burial she decided her eternal rest would be on a tourmaline pillow.

Isadora's Art Deco Pink Tourmaline Ring

Brazil today, is the leading producer of tourmaline but the California mines continue to mine beautiful tourmalines and they are still most famous for pink tourmalines in all different shades and hues.  And if you buy a vintage or antique pink tourmaline piece there is a good chance it came from the Himalayan Mine.

-MIKO

The Tourmaline – A Stone of Incredibly Dynamic Color

An Egyptian legend holds that on the tourmaline’s journey from the center of the earth it passed across a rainbow and the stone was therefore gifted with all the rainbow's beautiful colors.

A rainbow arching over the pyramids

And yes, a tourmaline stone can represent each color of the rainbow, but that does not even come close to describing the multitude of colors that tourmalines can come in.  The range of colors represented by tourmalines makes the jumbo pack of crayons look monochromatic it is so varied and dynamic.  

Beautiful Cabochon Cut Tourmalines

Tourmalines fuel my interest in color because they, more than anything I’ve ever encountered, surprise me with colors unexpected and new.  Every time I think I have a color figured out and find myself making a blanket statement like, “I don’t’ like pink”, a tourmaline will come into our store to refute my statement. 

A Stunning Pink Tourmaline Ring 

For instance there were two rings that changed my views on pink.  One was a Victorian ring centered by a tourmaline, pink with undertones of coral giving it an idiosyncratic, exotic and stunning beauty.  Another was an Art Deco pink tourmaline ring that I loved for its depth of color.  One client called it a smoky pink because the pink had almost a charcoal color layered underneath the pink, which sounds odd but was exquisite.  It was as if pink had become a liquid like the ocean with all the depth and nuance of the sea’s color.  Which is all to say, I now no longer say I don’t like pink because the tourmaline sure makes pink look sexy.  It makes pink looks sexy as it does red, orange, yellow, green, blue and all the colors you thought you knew until the tourmaline made you take a closer look.

Green Tourmaline Ring

I tried to learn more about how the tourmaline creates such dynamic color and I learned a little but there was a lot of technical language, which I’ll admit I zoned out on.  But what I did absorb had to do with the fact that the crystals that actually make up the stone, unlike most stones crystals, can be multi colored themselves so the very building blocks of the stone lend itself to dynamic colors.  And also tourmalines are unusual in that many of them change color depending on the light and angle.

Mid 20th Century Brooch 

Regardless of the why or wherefore, tourmalines are one of natures greatest beauties and it is not surprising that the tourmalines root words “tura mali” is the Singhalese words for ‘stone with mixed colors’.  It is also not surprising that the tourmaline in addition to being one of October’s birthstones is also the stone of artists, authors, actors and those in creative fields because that much variety can be nothing but inspiring.