araiba like tourmaline, a misbegotten variety.

bruce_tourm · **Posted:** Mon Jul 04, 2022 6:46 am

Website after website on the internet will make a special effort to promote/describe Paraiba tourmaline. The heart of the vast majority of these inadequate efforts is the uniqueness of Paraiba tourmaline's color. The question that comes to my mind is: Why did the Harmonization Committee propose to name a "new" variety of tourmaline, colored by iron, Paraiba Like? The simple answer is that in some of the range of Paraiba's colors, they are NOT unique. I could digress into the beautiful colors of tourmaline and their presentation, but the point here is that next to no one even brings up Paraiba Like in any part of these websites. This "oversight" is not trivial since the cost differential between copper-colored and iron-colored tourmaline is substantial even for gems with the same color.

The world of Paraiba/Paraiba-like, cuprian and copper-bearing, etc. is complex and prone to costly mistakes. Testing by qualified gem labs can now place a tourmaline gem, in question, in its proper category, but if the gem does not sing to your eyes with exceptional beauty, I wouldn't pay a premium for it.

Bruce

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