Watermelon tourmaline: description and properties

What can be hidden behind the name "watermelon tourmaline"? An unusual delicacy, a grade of melons and gourds or a strange gem? If you do not know the answer to this question, read our article - from it you will learn all the details.

Color of watermelon

It's about a variety of tourmaline. There are many subspecies of this mineral and each of them is beautiful in its own way. The name of the stone is due to an unusual color. Gem of amazing beauty has a truly unique range: inside the stone is pink, and its edges are painted in emerald green. It creates a feeling that the stone glows from the inside. Jewelers try to emphasize the unusual color when cutting, so decorations with this stone look really fabulous.

It is much less common to have an even more unusual coloring of the stone, when the pink edge is combined with the green middle. These nuggets have even greater value and value.

But nature has rewarded this mineral not only with beauty, but also with extraordinary properties.

Powerful aphrodisiac

Watermelon tourmaline was very popular in India. In ancient times, it was very appreciated by men. Hindus wore rings and rings with this gem as an amulet capable of increasing attractiveness. He was considered a natural aphrodisiac. The stone was considered so powerful that women were forbidden to wear it, so that under its influence they did not become too seductive and liberated.

In Europe, this gem fell from Ceylon. At the beginning of the XVIII century it was brought by the Dutch. But in Russia watermelon tourmaline by that time already knew perfectly. He got there from the East in the 16th century and found wide application.

Practical benefits

Surprisingly, Europeans did not immediately see the beauty of watermelon tourmaline. The stone attracted by its property attracted warm wood ash, due to which it was used for cleaning pipes for a long time.

The pyroelectric effect is also noticeable: the heated tourmaline begins to become electrified. Use watermelon tourmaline in jewelry in Europe began a little later.

Russian masters decorated this gem with church utensils and clothes of clergymen, made ornaments, combining strange stones with gold and silver. A fabulously beautiful gem was used in the world, but only the most prosperous could afford jewelry with him, because he was not cheap.

There is a watermelon tourmaline and in some works of the great master Faberge.

Extraction of gems

Obtain this mineral in granites and granite pegmatites. Sometimes crystals are found in shales and gneisses. In appearance they look like thin long prisms with vertical grooves.

A lot of deposits are known in the world. They get a fabulous tourmaline with a watermelon color and in Russia, in the Urals. Artificial stone with a similar color can not be grown. But the risk of running into a fake is big enough.

Cutting methods

Watermelon variety of tourmaline, some jewelers prefer to leave untreated. This allows you to convey its natural beauty. The stone has a transparency above the average, small inclusions are permissible.

Processing in the form of a cabochon allows you to achieve a flickering "cat's eye" effect. But much more often you can find a stepped and mixed cut. The thin section of the stone looks so unusual and intricate that the jewelers do not strive for symmetry, preserving the natural form and only polishing both surfaces of the tourmaline. In decorations with such stones there is a kind of charm.

Application in the art of jewelry

Many people are delighted with the bright beauty of watermelon tourmaline. Photo of this stone you want to consider for a long time, what can we say about decorations. Some owners of gems of this kind assure that the stone has such a juicy appearance that I want to taste it.

From this gem make bracelets, beads, rings, earrings and pendants. Jewelers combine the watermelon variety with other tourmaline, supplementing the composition with gold or silver.

This mineral is very fond of collectors. And they are interested not only processed and trimmed in precious metals stones, but also uncut nuggets, reminiscent of succulent lobules of ripe watermelon.

It is noteworthy, but even today the stone has found application not only in jewelry art. To produce manometers, some electrical appliances and even medical equipment, watermelon tourmaline is also used.

Properties of stone

Experts believe that this mineral, like many of its counterparts, has the ability to emit negatively charged ions and infrared rays. Gem can block electromagnetic radiation of low intensity.

Virtually all varieties of tourmaline have healing properties. At the same time, the spectrum of their application is quite wide.

Watermelon tourmaline is a stone whose properties allow it to fight diseases of the liver, circulatory and cardiovascular system, skin. It allows the owner of the jewelry to preserve youth, helps him get rid of seizures, problems with blood vessels, joint pain.

Some believe in magical properties. It is believed that this stone gives self-confidence, protects from ill-wishers, enhances attractiveness.

How much does a watermelon gem cost?

For some varieties of tourmaline (paraiba, for example), a potential buyer has to pay a tidy sum. The cost of watermelon gem can be called average for this category of stones. On average, the carat will cost $ 900-1200. When buying jewelry, you must always check the certificate.