Multi colored tourmaline

[LewisJewelersA2]

Years ago I saw a couple of tourmalines that had i think between 5-7 different colors in a rectangle cut stone. Does anyone have any information of anything on this? Like origin.
Thanks
David Lewis
www.Lewisjewelers.com

 

[valeria101]

'Parti Color' ?

As far as I know, it could come from anywhere. Among sellers I know of, Marc Sarosi (www.africagems.com) used to make a persuasive case for Zambian Parti Color tourmaline. Others just list the unusual pieces without special care... but the type is not too unusual, as far as I know: Nigeria, Malawi, Brazil come to mind as sources. I am not sure if any multicolor tourmalines have been cut from US rough, but there are collectible multicolor crystals out there. It may be more unusual to get parti color rough cut so that more than one color shows face up.

The most colors I have ever seen in a single chunk of tourmaline happened on a piece of liddicoatite from Madagascar (I wouldn't know where it came from more precisely). From your description (7 colors?!) I would venture to guess this type applies, but there are many sources of multicolor liddicoatite - throughout Africa and Madagascar, and probably elsewhere.

This is the little my random memory brought up asap... I happen to like those quirky stones, and should have a 'cit-able' report on these somewhere....

(looking up).

 

[Richard M.]

Date: 2/4/2006 10:48:36 AM
Author: valeria101


''Parti Color'' ?

It may be more unusual to get parti color rough cut so that more than one color shows face up.

Can you tell us what the ''parti color'' rough looks like? What would distinguish it from ordinary bi- or tri-color tourmaline? Are any special techniques required in cutting it?

Just curious.

Richard M.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 2/4/2006 12:32:41 PM
Author: Richard M.


Can you tell us what the 'parti color' rough looks like? What would distinguish it from ordinary bi- or tri-color tourmaline? Are any special techniques required in cutting it?

Just curious.

Richard M.

Sorry to barge into the subject like that...

To clarify the use of that name in the previous post: I found the name 'parti color' assigned to water worn tourmaline nodules with different colors distributed as random clouds and patches - sometimes obviously a thick outer rind, sometimes not. Hearing 'bi-color' I think of a pencil-like crystal with neatly separated color zones that can be cut to show off the said neat separation. Since it looks like the separation and distribution of color in 'traditional' bi and tricolor tourmaline is a matter of price, I wasn't too surprised that the randomly spotted outliers were given a different name to avoid uneasy comparison. Not that the result doesn't deserve it's own entry in the dictionary.

At least this is how I have heard the term used - either by sellers or in publications (one GG number from '98 talked about 'parti color tourmaline' in this sense).


'Special techniques for cutting?' - Geez... what on Earth do I know? I should be listening

 

[Richard M.]

Date: 2/4/2006 12:49:18 PM
Author: valeria101
I found the name ''parti color'' assigned to water worn tourmaline nodules with different colors distributed as random clouds and patches - sometimes obviously a thick outer rind, sometimes not. Hearing ''bi-color'' I think of a pencil-like crystal with neatly separated color zones that can be cut to show off the said neat separation...At least this is how I have heard the term used - either by sellers or in publications (one GG number from ''98 talked about ''parti color tourmaline'' in this sense).

My question was sincere. I know you do very thorough research,

Sarosi''s rough came from Lundazi, Zambia, but the article about it on his website is very vague. It speaks only of "color zoning" with no clear indication of how the cut stone is oriented to the crystal (probably for proprietary reasons). It doesn''t distinguish between parti-colors and color segmentation along length of the crystal''s prism.

I''ve cut similar parti-colors from waterworn Nigerian rough crystal segments sometimes called ''flying saucers''. They''re ''watermelon'' tourmaline with a green rind, colored center and an ''open'' c-axis. The tables were oriented perpindicular to the c-axis. I think similar rough occurs elsewhere but the Lundazi stones displayed very strong multicolor hues. For some unknown reason the stones I''ve seen tended to display multiple colors best when cut with checkerboard crowns.

Richard M.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 2/4/2006 3:51:08 PM
Author: Richard M.


I've cut similar parti-colors from waterworn Nigerian rough crystal segments sometimes called 'flying saucers'.

Thanks

Yes, that's the material that made my the formal introduction to 'parti color'. I had the impression that these are slices through tourmaline crystals with color zones and 'skin'. I have also seen tourmaline 'phantom' crystals with multiple colors that could be cut as 'parti' colors - these from Pakistan. The crystals were so cute, I've got a few for fun - not cutable, but perfectly layered 'phantoms'! Nigerian nodules were mostly yellow and green or something, Afgani phantoms are colorless, red and ink blue. From the same address there were nodules with peach and pink shades.

I didn't notice anything special about the cut of these stones - perhaps small tables or none at all - as you say. And also laying color spots towards the bottom of the pavilion. No surprises. Could it be that the position of distinct color areas towards the 'ecuator' of the rough pebbles limits choices? There seem to be too many such parti stones with the girdles tinged with different color than the centre, and ovals with the ends dipped in different shades to avoid this assumption.

Jeff Graham has an 'online display' about distributing colors through checker crowns (LINK):

The most spectacular parti tourmaline gems I have ever seen were not faceted, but carvings - by Bart Curren. Couldn't find any such thing online, except the bicolor carving below...

 

[valeria101]

There was one sort of thing I wanted to 'show' for fun. The largest number of color zones in one crystal I know of would be in these tourmalines! Not sure if it is fair game to call them 'parti color' and facetable material seems illusive, but... the patchy look seemed well worth a post.

I had not seen the GIA report on the (LINK to Pdf file) when the first slices turned up, and they were quite some surprise! The same type also comes as traditional tri-color, but rarely clean. I've been told facetable quality doesn't exist - but then seen one or two acceptably clean. If allot more is available, no idea.

One may think these never sell... but the slices turned up unexpectedly in at least two well publicized jewelry collections since last summer. One Seller names a couple of mines.

 

[Gemklctr]

I have a couple of Marc Sarosi''s parti colored tormalines in my collection. My favorite is a 7mm cushion that exhibits pink, green and yellow that changes depending upon the viewing angle, similar in effect to andalusite. It''s quite an attractive stone, although not nearly as dramatic as the checkerboards posted by Ana.

 

[GemJunky]

I saw this item being offered on ebay a long while back, it was so stunningly rare & beautiful that I saved the image. The seller had very good feedback (was a powerseller) and claimed the gem was untreated AND IF grade. I''m not sure since I''ve NEVER seen anything resembling this, if it is genuine (and unenhanced) it''s truly a museum piece. But perhaps there are more gems like this on the market...

 

[valeria101]

The picture does not show, and with that sort of description it must!

From the twxt of the link it sounds liek you have tried to inset a picture from your HD. Those need to be uploaded instead using the ''Attach File'' button, not ''Insert Image''. If you find time...

 

[GemJunky]

Thanx, I''ll keep that in mind next time I''ll post an image from my drive. As for the gem, maybe I''ll never find out...

There seems to be more tri color material of reasonable quality, but I can''t find anything that good. These pieces look OK:

 

[valeria101]

Gee! Are those for real? The strong separation between colors (red / white in particular) makes me thing of Maine tourmaline - and the looks of these jewelry pieces remind me strongly of such. Some of the pieces may be assembled, and I am not aware if any other sort of tourmaline is worked this way. The colors are quite a bit more than any bit of tourmaline I can remember though (photoshop?).

 

[GemJunky]

Not too sure if they''re real... hard to tell, the image is rather small to determine. How about this one? Gems with strong colors like this are almost always included pretty badly. Would make for a eye-catching pendant though.

Oh and here''s the tri color tourmaline again, the attach file button doesn''t seem to work if you edit a previous post (works only once/post anyway)...

 

[valeria101]

... from my own list of ''regrets''

Not sure how great maine colors are. But these... made some waves! And I can''t think of a better ''name'' for stryking multicolor tourmaline. There should be many out there, but everyone knows ''Pederneira''.

 

[valeria101]

The first looks very interesting.. but those inclusions would keep it into the ''curiosity'' department for me. I don''t mind some... but those are quite distracting, IMO.

Last months my jeweler brought in a handful of white to green tourmaline needles, bough along with a parcel of facetable rough. These were too small to be cut, but he said that the seller also had larger needles of similar colors - all very clean.

Anyway...

Liked quite a bit what happened with this monster - nice unusual cut.