This dark toned brown is a desaturated purple that has no copper. It is flash driven, eye clean and with fine crystal. It weighs 3.27 carats.
This gemstone is an example of how you have to buy in the world of tourmaline rough to quest for color. I consider tourmaline to be a world of color possibilities. Opportunities appear which demand action because if you miss the train, it will not be back anytime soon. I have posted maybe half a dozen examples of purples that range from a pretty bright maroon to this gemstone that is a brown with some purple flash. When the first examples of this material came out of Africa, I was offered a private deal and I jumped on it. Later I was more moderate in my enthusiasm because while being different, it has a limited appeal as an example of color in tourmaline. So enough is enough, but if I hadn’t moved in the first place I would have misses the train. Did I get a good economic deal, has really never been the key to my quest for color in tourmaline. That doesn’t mean that I have not been forced to pass on very expensive material.
This oval is dark with a flash driven purple. The darkness comes in the form of brown from the low level of saturation of the purple,which is typical of that color when it is not based on copper. The gemstone is eye clean and has fine crystal, but is so dark that it would be hard to see the effect of inclusion and crystal, except for an impact on the flash. It weighs 3.27 carats.
Bruce
