Tourmaline Gem
Tourmaline Gem
Treasure Hunting for Tourmaline
Tourmaline Rough
According to Egyptian legend tourmaline gets it color when it passes over a rainbow on its journey up from the center of the earth and that is why it is often referred as the gemstone of the rainbow. Multicolored and bi-colored tourmaline are the norm and very rarely found in the clear or colorless form. Watermelon colored gemstones are green at one end and pink at the other, hence the name.
Tourmaline is a crystal distinguished by its three sided prisms, which no other common mineral has. Tourmaline will come in a wide variety of colors. Iron will give tourmaline a black or brown coloration, magnesium are brown to yellow, lithium rich crystals will display blue, green, red, yellow or pink.
Tourmaline Rough
Tourmaline is found in pegmatite veins within the underlying bedrock that is at an angle of about 45 degrees to the center of the earth. Two main geological features, granite and marble, have the ability to form tourmaline crystals. Only about 5 percent of the gemstones found are of gem grade quality.
Tourmaline will change it electrical properties when it is heated. It becomes lightly magnetized and it has been used in the Netherlands to attract ashes and could be used to clean out pipes. This gemstone has a hardness rating of 7 to 7.5 thus making it a good candidate for jewelry. It can withstand years of wear but you may want to avoid steam cleaning or heat.
Tourmaline Multiple Rough
Tourmaline was first discovered in the United States near Paris, Main in 1820. Two students taking a shortcut home they came upon an uprooted tree with dozens of green tourmaline crystals near the roots. Tourmaline was the first gemstone commercially mined in the United States. This gemstone has also been found in other areas of Main such as Newry Hill, Mount Mica and Plumbago Mountain. Currently most of the old mines are open to collectors for a fee.
The Himalaya Mine in San Diego County, California allows treasure hunters to search for tourmaline gemstones. For a fee of $75 the prospectors will have access to the mine tailings area all day long. Fill up your bucket from the mine and then take your potential treasures to the screening area and sift through the rubble for the gemstones.
The Himalaya Mine will also sell you a bucket of tailings to take home for $50 to $100, depending on the quality of tailings. You may also purchase a bag of “Pocket Mud” on the internet for $20 plus $10 for shipping, so you can screen at your leisure.
The underground mine consists of five miles of steep passages that were dug over the last 100 years so there is plenty of tailings you can sift through. If you decide to dig at the Himalaya Mine you will need to bring a shovel, bucket, gloves, hat and a ¼ inch screening stand.
In 1989 a vivid blue color tourmaline was found in Brazil. It was given the name Paraiba tourmaline and is in such popular demand that price was soon over $10,000 per carat. Almost every color can be found in Brazil but the blue is still the number one must have. A cut and polished gem quality tourmaline from the United States can demand up to $1,000 per carat.
Happy treasure hunting.
About the Author
David Cowley has created numerous articles on Treasure Hunting. He has also created a Web Site dedicated to Treasure Hunting. Visit Treasure Hunting
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History of gems and jewelry
Interest person to jewelry is rooted in more than a thousand years of human history. The first jewelry was found in ancient tombs, numbering approximately 20 000 years. They were the ornaments of the processed shells, a necklace made of bone. At a later time, precious stones were used as symbols of divine and earthly power and authority, talismans that protect against misfortune.
The beauty of gold and precious stones, interest in them prompted the development of decorative arts. Jadeite carving was distributed in China is 4500 years ago. At the same time master jewelers Sumer and Egypt produced complex decorations lapis lazuli, carnelian, turquoise, amethyst, garnet. Cameos and other jewelry of agate were especially popular in ancient Rome, and later - in the Middle Ages. Wizards used a variety of colors talented various layers of stone. An example of their work can serve as a cameo with the image of the Emperor Augustus, who in the Middle Ages became part of the diadem.
The history of jewelry and is closely associated with cultural gems as jewelry has about five thousand years. On the very early stages of preserved only scant attention, as archaeological finds relating to the times. scarce. In the Cairo Museum (Egypt) are stored bracelets, extracted from the tomb of Pharaoh Djoser (Abydos), I belonged to a dynasty (3200 - 2800 gg. BC. E.) Towards a Culture of Ancient Egypt and Ancient East adjoins the ancient culture of Greece and Rome.
This is followed by a medieval culture of the Celts, Franks and Germans, in the development of which there are several stages: the Carolingian era, the era of Otto I and the Saxon dynasty, Romanesque and Gothic era. In place of the Middle Ages came the Renaissance, and the opulence of the times of absolutism (Baroque and Rococo) is replaced by the modern culture of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
In the Egyptian inlay XII-XVII dynasties (2000-1700 gg. O n. E.) Used mainly Red Carnelian and blue lapis lazuli (lapis lazuli), turquoise and amazonite and colored glass. The tombs of ancient Ur provides insights about the art of goldsmiths of Sumer, which reached a peak in the middle of the III millennium BC. E. And apparently relied on a long tradition of treatment of lapis lazuli, red limestone and pearl.
From the Egyptians, the Greeks took over the art of inlay. They are decorated with precious stones, their statues, covered with plates of gold and ivory, these stones are inserted into the orbit sculptures of the ancient pantheon of gods.
How and where the stones were obtained? The first stones were probably found in the river gravel at the bottom of rivers and coasts. In the advanced ancient civilizations of mining stones become the economy. Egypt extracted turquoise (Sinai) and amethyst (near Aswan), imported lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, where the only known place of extraction time was Badagshan. In the mines Badagshana so far - at the end of 6000 years - produces the best quality lapis lazuli.
The ancient Romans mined agate in the field in Idar-Oberstein (Germany), where the development of agate resumed in the Middle Ages and is still ongoing. Famous as deposits of precious stones (diamonds, sapphires, rubies, spinels) are very high quality of India, Sri Lanka, Burma. In one of the Sanskrit manuscripts noted that the Indian diamonds were an important source of government revenue even 2000 years ago.
In today's world, there are several unique beauty of stones, with a legendary history, which are essentially the province of all mankind. Examples of such stones can serve as a diamond, "Koh-i-Nor", presented by the Mongol Emperor Babur in 1526g. Whose value is defined as "the sum of expenditures spent by mankind in a single day of its existence. As evidence of the legendary past of some of the precious stones were deposited names of their respective owners. For example, diamond "Shah" was the names of three rulers of Persia, including the Shah Yahana.
In the Middle Ages the stones began to arrive from Africa, Australia, North and South America, Australia, Siberia. Beautiful Colombian emeralds first came to Europe in the 16th century. in booty conquistadors. Color and size, they surpassed the emeralds from Habahtala and Egypt. Large deposits of topaz, tourmaline, chrysoberyl, of agate have been discovered in Brazil. Among the great discoveries of 19th century. - Deposits of diamonds in South Africa and Australia. In the same century, increased production of diamonds in Siberia, many countries in Africa.
Article Source: http://jewelry.forallinfo.com/
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