Friday, February 19, 2010

Fun Friday The Letter R: Rubellite Tourmaline

Today is Fun Friday at our Blogging For Fun Group. We are working on an A-Z meme, and we are up to the letter R. R is for Rubellite Tourmaline. Did you know Tourmaline comes in almost every shade, and hue in the rainbow? Did you also know that Tourmaline is the national gemstone of the USA? I love Tourmaline, it is so unique, and the variety of color that it can be found is, is remarkable. Some are more valuable than others, just like any gemstone. The most valuable in the Rubellite family, is the red that resembles a fine quality ruby. It can also have hints of pink, and violet tones to it. It can mimic ruby, rhodolite garnet, and even pink sapphires. Tourmaline has a hardness of 7- 7 1/2 on the Mohs Hardness Scale. Tourmaline is mostly an abundant gemstone found in many areas in the world, including the US. I own one Rubellite Tourmaline that I know of, and suspect I have others that need to be properly tested. If you don't have Rubellite Tourmaline in your collection both jewelry, and loose gemstones, then you should. Happy Fun Friday, everyone.

7 comments:

Ebie said...

I would love to have this big of a stone as a pendant!

Melissa said...

It is lovely indeed.

Reeni said...

It's gorgeous! I didn't know we had a national gemstone!

betchai said...

it's very pretty, Melissa.

Melissa said...

Cinnamon Girl, I didn't know either. But I guess all countries have their own, plus a bird, and numerous other things too. I wonder who comes up with these things.

Betchai, thank you.

ruthinian said...

lovely... Hubby and I used to go up north during summer to dig up some tourmaline stones... we have lots of them here in Maine... we still have a big bucket of dirt in the driveway that we brought more our trip last couple of years back and had not sifted through it yet... maybe i could find some precious stones there. thanks for sharing.

Melissa said...

Ruthi it is a great stress reliever. You should go for it.

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