Every market has its ups and downs, but the availability of tourmaline rough has turned out to be a wild ride. Gone are the days when larger clean rough was available in reasonable amounts and at affordable prices. But I still need to be in the market to keep working in my retirement and not miss any new color twists. In response to the new reality, I have been working with smaller and more included material. And my focus is even more on color, my most important quest in tourmaline. Pictures of most of my newer gems have not been posted because my photographer has been busy with life. He is retiring in a couple of months and we should have a new wave of post for the site.
The rough market has given me a new perspective on the beautiful rough I have been able to work on. I know I will never be able to replace the beauty I have been fortunate to cut. It also makes me more determined to find good homes in museums or the hands of appreciative people for my collection, so the gemstones can be conserved and enjoyed for years to come. The conservation of Laurellite, a name I have given to a reverse alexandrite cuprian tourmaline color changer is of particular importance to me and science. You can read and see quite a bit more on my site about cuprian tourmaline and Laurellite with very little effort. I would love to hear from you about anything to do with tourmaline and my site.
Bruce 10/29/2017
