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Purple Tourmaline from Afghanistan?

T L

Super_Ideal_Rock
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I never saw non copper bearing purple tourmaline. You learn something new every day!!!
 

Nick_G

Shiny_Rock
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Sep 7, 2018
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326
Very nice find there, and certainly not a typical shade of purple for tourmaline.
 

T L

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Sep 20, 2008
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A gemstone is only worth what someone will pay for it, rare or not rare. White diamonds are very common, but still costly due to their demand. Some gems are very rare, but not valuable because they’re either not attractive, not durable, or some other variable.

I would just caution anyone looking to get something just because it is rare, because rarity alone doesn’t guarantee high value.
 

Arcadian

Ideal_Rock
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I had a purple non copper bearing tourmaline. Was sold to me as copper bearing but I sent to to AGL, and lab report bore out that it wasn't. I sent it back to the seller, no harm no foul. That was I want to say in 2010-2011. If I were looking for purple tourmaline without copper and the price was a bit better I might have kept it.
 

T L

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Messages
25,150
I had a purple non copper bearing tourmaline. Was sold to me as copper bearing but I sent to to AGL, and lab report bore out that it wasn't. I sent it back to the seller, no harm no foul. That was I want to say in 2010-2011. If I were looking for purple tourmaline without copper and the price was a bit better I might have kept it.
Was that the 6+ carat one you had?? I think I remember.
 

Arkteia

Ideal_Rock
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Nov 3, 2009
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7,589
A gemstone is only worth what someone will pay for it, rare or not rare. White diamonds are very common, but still costly due to their demand. Some gems are very rare, but not valuable because they’re either not attractive, not durable, or some other variable.

I would just caution anyone looking to get something just because it is rare, because rarity alone doesn’t guarantee high value.

Marketing is everything...as always.

Look at tanzanites or even alexandrites. And I bet the price for brown diamonds is up after that 11-ct johanssenite.
 

T L

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Marketing is everything...as always.

Look at tanzanites or even alexandrites. And I bet the price for brown diamonds is up after that 11-ct johanssenite.

Lol!! Johanssenite! Good one!!
 

WillTaylorDesigns

Rough_Rock
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Oct 14, 2019
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11
Very true. I'm most likely keeping these for my personal collection. Not worried about worth too much, just like Tourmaline a lot and the shade of purple got me!
 

Arcadian

Ideal_Rock
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Was that the 6+ carat one you had?? I think I remember.

Was 4-5 cts (roughly at least thats what I remember. The only copper bearing one I have is the violet one which is slightly over 7cts. I'll never heat it (but of course it might break!) I keep hoping I find another one like it though (for earrings :lol::twisted:)

It was with this stone that I learned that there are some particular amounts of CU that had to be there for any stone to be considered copper bearing by any laboratory. Pretty sure I asked AGL about it but its been a long time and I'm old now.

Pretty sure I kept pictures of the stone though! (somewhere, I'll look)
 

Arcadian

Ideal_Rock
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Very true. I'm most likely keeping these for my personal collection. Not worried about worth too much, just like Tourmaline a lot and the shade of purple got me!


If you get a good price for them, I can't blame you. They're still quite unusual even without the copper. Lovely thing about tourmaline is that they really do come in every color of the rainbow (and a few not in there....lol)
 

WillTaylorDesigns

Rough_Rock
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Oct 14, 2019
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Another shot of the purple
 

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