Metal: 18K Gold

Stone: 2.45 Natural Light Green Tourmaline

Size: 5

Measurements: Approx. 12mm x 6mm

What You Should Know: Custom created by us, this gorgeous tourmaline is a little slice of heaven!

Tourmalines are a world unto themselves, boasting a stunning range of colors. The Gemological Institute of America, in fact, has three categories for color alone: hue, tone, and saturation. Hue is the color we perceive; tone is where the color lands on a light to dark spectrum; and saturation—the most important of the three—has to do with the vividness and vibrancy of the color.

The range of possible tourmaline colors is so vast that people misidentified these gems for years. In the 16th century, a Spanish conquistador “discovered” green tourmaline, which his expedition party mistook for emerald. Nearly 300 years would pass before gemologists classified tourmaline as a unique stone unto itself.

The stone’s name is derived from a word meaning “mixed gems” in Sinhalese (a language spoken in Sri Lanka). Tourmaline’s colorful spectrum is a result of the mineral make-up of each stone. Iron, and possibly titanium, create the breezy greens and blues while manganese makes reds and pinks. Radiation—either naturally occurring or artificially applied—may also be a factor in determining the color of a tourmaline, especially pink and yellow. Pure blue, red, orange, yellow, and purple stones are rare and those extra magical tourmalines that seem to change color before your very eyes are exceptionally rare.

Mined from Sri Lanka to Maine, tourmaline is a grounding stone, thought to shield a person or space from negative or unwelcome energies. We are getting the most positive vibes from this heavenly green stone, set in an East-West orientation and pulling us in with that springtime glow. Those 2.45 carat of light green gorgeousness were just asking to be set in high polished 18K gold for a classic pairing.