I came across this beauty on PS and have since noted it over here. so pretty... It seems as though there is a huge range of price...and color too! What is up with that. What is 'ideal'? What do you look for?

The original paraiba tourmaline was found in the early 1980's from the area around paraiba, brazil. From what ive read the mine was played out in a short amount of time, several years, but still produces in very small crystals at times. The stones were first found to contain small amounts of gold, copper, & a few other goodies. Some people even thought of grinding the stones for the gold content, but this was stopped because amounts were so small & the distruction of the gems. I have been told the ideal color is windex blue, depending on saturation, cut & clairity also play serious parts in the menue. When first shown on the market in asia, the demand went skyward to a value of $10-60,000.00/ct. at todays pricing, for the very nice material. On appraisals, one should present a certificate of origin or a good lab report citing origin, or the appraisal could be cut to half of the brazillian tourmaline value. If you can fine any REAL paraiba on the market, it will be expensive, but the alternatives are there & deals can be had-steve...[my 2 yen]

Thanks for all that info Steve!! I do not know what is ideal, but if I were lucky enough to have one, it would be windex blue and look like this.



I would eve take it in this setting.

That that that is................

Thank you for the detailed info! Interesting. So er, most of what I am seeing is likely not true Paraiba tourmaline then. I,ve noted listings with mention of copper and didn't know what it meant. Thanks!

Jcent-that is so pretty!!

They need to be copper bearing and need to be from a specific place to be true paraibas. With how much they cost, I would want to make sure it some from a very reputable source with the right certs.

All I can tell you is that I love them and they are expensive.

Ive heard the term Cuprian tourmaline, which means copper bearing, any corrections appreciated, which helps with the color. The windex term is only used as a reference color by some in the trade. Many years ago, 50 to 75 I believe, the continents of africa & south america were basically one land mass, maby I should have said 50 million to 75 million years ago, but whats a few million between friends, and if one takes a map of the world & kind of moves the land masses towards each other, the area where paraiba is found lines up where the african material is also found today. There is a large debate over paraiba & paraiba like tourmaline. Both material is close in color & makeup, but the brazillian usually seems to be a little more of the ideal & where the money is-something like burmese ruby & all other ruby. Just about every appraiser who has seen my paraiba always asks me for cert. of origin on the stone, without it im given a value for brazillian & one for african paraiba like tourmaline. Each appraiser has information dealing with color, cut, clairity, & cost of the material being viewed & each can give their own value at the time of appraisal, but a ball park figure is possible from a qualified person. By all means, the african tourmaline is beautiful, clean & definetly gem material and usually a buy that will go up in value because it is rare in its own catagory. Hope this helps a little but sweet-steve...

Ive posted this before, this is a 2.21ct oval, marked FL. when sold, heated, color as bluish with slight green in 14kt white gold so as to not add any color to the stone. A similar stone just like this only a little larger, 2.9ct. sold last year at Touson for $100.000.00, which is avg. about $33,000.00 or so per ct. My stone does have papers of origin, which is a plus for any appraisal which will be done in the near future. A friend of mine who works at Macys, just had her stone reappraised, a 1.98ct, VS clairity, similar color as I have, brazillian, she said her appr. went from $29,000.00 to over $37,000.00 within the last month-her stone was checked by 2 certified appraisers-she has been in the gem business for many years & knows good people. The stuff is out for sale & deals can still be had-careful shopping-ckeck paraiba international on the web, a good,reliable,seller of stones-steve...

Thank you so much for your informative post! It's such a beautiful gem!