Tourmaline precious or semi-precious stone

Modern gemology has more than 5000 minerals, but even half of them are not natural and are used to make jewelry. When processing crystals, they are divided into precious and semi-precious.

The classification takes into account such indicators as hardness, light transmission, chemical composition, structure, as well as the rarity of formation in nature. Most often, all gems have characteristic differences and are evaluated depending on the group to which they belong.

What group of stones does tourmaline belong to?

Tourmaline is a precious mineral of the III order (second-class). This also includes aquamarine, spinel, chrysoberyl, zircon. However, any variety of tourmaline, which is classified as valuable crystals, should be characterized by high rates in structure and physical properties. For example, a green gem is a Tier IV semi-precious gem, as it is quite common in nature. But, for example, paraiba - a bright blue mineral belonging to the tourmaline group, due to a very rare formation in natural conditions, is already classified as precious and highly valued in the jewelry industry.

Summing up, we can say that belonging to any group depends on the quality of the natural gem. Some varieties of tourmaline are completely fake if they have a dirty shade, complete opacity, significant defects on the surface and inside, as well as weak hardness.