Say hello to the real Paraiba Tourmaline!
Or....how the Laboratory Manual Harmonization Committee opened Pandora's Box!
Paraiba Tourmaline. One of the most valuable gemstones on the market. Rare and beautiful. Well, at least it was until the “Members of the Laboratory Manual Harmonisation Committee (LMHC) ….standardised the nomenclature that they use to describe a Paraíba tourmaline.”
(LMHC I n f o r m a t i o n S h e e t # 6)
What does that mean: “standardized the nomenclature?” Who gave the LMHC the moral or legal right to take the name "Paraiba Tourmaline" away from......PARAIBA, Brazil?
We’ll come back to this in just a little while. For now we want to take a look at the real Paraiba Tourmaline, so we can better understand the issues in this, and future, editions of our newsletter.
Locations of true Paraiba Tourmaline
The mining area of true Paraiba tourmaline extends across the Brazilian states of Paraiba and Rio Grande do Norte. An outstanding report on the locations and production of Paraiba tourmaline was done by Mr. Hiroshi KITAWAKI (FGA, CGJ), Research Laboratory, Gemmological Association of All Japan. Rather than do a lot of quoting of the article I believe it is important to provide the link so that everyone can read the complete report.
What makes Paraiba Tourmaline special?
The Paraiba Tourmaline is special because of a very rare occurance of copper in the elbaite tourmaline formation. The true Paraiba Tourmaline has up to 4% copper in its crystal structure. This copper provides the very unique and beautiful electric blue and green colors for which Paraiba Tourmaline is famous. But remember that number: up to 4% copper content. This is going to be crucial in coming editions of this newsletter.
As with many gemstones, Paraiba Tourmalines do not just come out of the ground in their respective colors. The beautiful electric blue and green colors are the result of some very technical heating processes that are closely guarded trade secrets. The heating is permanent, and allows us to have the wonderful colors of Paraiba Tourmaline as you see throughout this newsletter.The ISG has obtained an outline of the heating procedures that are required to produce this exceptionally rare gemstone, and I can tell you that it isn’t easy to be pretty when it comes to true Paraiba Tourmaline. Here are some examples of the rough crystals and the colors they produce. And this is a general overview of the color changes based on some very intricate science of heating, so the actual changes can vary greatly based on the processes. These are simply an overview to give you an idea of how it all works.
The grey crystals generally produce green or blue colors.
The violet crystals produce dark blue colors.
The red crystals produce the electric blue colors. And other colors of natural crystals can also produce the electric blue color based on a lot of very intricate factors involved. 
The bottom line is that Paraiba Tourmalines continue to be produced to this day in mining areas around the Brazilian states of Paraiba and Rio Grande do Norte. And the actual production of rare and beautiful….and authentic….Paraiba Tourmalines is ongoing and active, as you can see in the images above. I purchased these specimens from Paraiba.com, and received them direct from the source in Brazil . But that takes us back to our original question regarding why the name “ Paraiba ” was taken from the true Paraiba Tourmaline and arbitrarily handed out to anyone in the world who can produce a blue tourmaline?
The Laboratory Manual Harmonization Committee The LMHC is a group of seven of the world’s largest gemological laboratories who got together and unilaterally decided that they could use the Paraiba name any way they decided. As you read in their Information Sheet #6 above, the LMHC decided that any tourmaline with any copper and manganese could and should be called “Paraiba”, even if it was from Mozambique or Nigeria . No matter that no one in the industry gave permission to take away the use of the name “ Paraiba ” from the Brazilians. Oh, that’s right! We don't have any centralized governing bodies like geologists and mineralogists have. We have total anarchy here, and the LMHC has proven that once again. (And just where is the Jewelers Vigilance Committee anyway?) And here is the very grave error made by the members of the LMHC….they did not do their homework. They did not bother to use the Old Geezer Rule of thinking in this business.
The Old Geezer Rule The Old Geezer Rule requires us to use what we in Texas call "common horse sense". You don't have to rein in a horse so he won't walk into a mud hole. Horses have common sense to know that when something is just not right, they trust their instincts and don't go there. Same applies with the Old Geezer Rule. When something is just not right, trust your common sense that says something is not right. Think about it. True Paraiba Tourmaline is very rare and requires very careful heating to produce the rare colors. It is up to 4% copper. And it can be found in only one geographical region on earth. Suddenly, Mozambique is producing so much “ Paraiba ” tourmaline that I can go to eBay and buy over 1,243 different specimens of all types of colors and sizes, and with prices starting out at just 99 cents. And from Thaigem.com to GemsTV to Jewelry Television to Direct Shopping Channel, “ Paraiba ” tourmaline has become plentiful and cheap. I know, because the ISG just purchased over 70 specimens of Mozambique “ Paraiba ” tourmaline (along with many coming in from consumers), to go along with our purchased specimens of authentic Paraiba Tourmaline. Old Geezer's Rule of Common Horse Sense says that something is wrong with at least some of this Mozambique material. And we have the pictures and research to prove it.
Coming Next.......... If you remember the issue of heavy metal bulk diffusion of copper into andesine, you will have a good idea of what our next report is going to start covering regarding Mozambique “ Paraiba ” tourmaline. Why the LMHC did not bother to do this basic study before opening this Pandora’s Box is totally astonishing. Did they not consider that they might be allowing bulk diffused, non disclosed, artificially colored and treated tourmaline to be sold using the famous "Paraiba" name? But unfortunately, the real issue here is not the name of the Mozambique material…but rather why there is suddenly so much of it on the market at such cheap prices?
Don’t miss next week’s edition…….
Robert James FGA, GG
President, International School of Gemology
Announcement: ISG Obtains Spectrometer. The ISG is pleased to announce the addition of a Challenger Spectrometer from Imperial Gem Instruments to the ISG Gem Research Center. This unit is going to allow us to expand our range of spectrum analysis from the visible range up to 1000nm of the IR range. More on this in the coming weeks.
©2008 International School of Gemology . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
All images are taken using the ISG Student Reference Collection of gemstones in the ISG office. We do urge and support sharing of this information in its entirety, with copyright notices intact, to others who are interested in the study of gemology. Jeweler’s Associations are welcome to distribute to your members.
