Introduced to Europeans in the 1700’s, Tourmaline became known as the Muse’s stone and is said to assist in the creative flow of artists across many mediums

Fun Facts
Tourmaline contains pyro-electric properties. The Dutch discovered tourmaline’s ability to attract dust and ash when heated, and used the long, slender crystals to clean their meerschaum pipes by drawing out the ashes

Today this property, creating strong polarity, is used in hair styling tools

Tourmalines also have a piezoelectric effect that was first applied in underwater sonar systems and ultrasound technology
during the second world war

Colors
 Tourmaline’s strong pleochroism, which means that the color appears differently based on the direction in which it is viewed, requires great skill in cutting to optimize the face-up color

Renewed artisanal mining activity in the Araçuai-Salinas district (made famous in the 1970’s and 1980’s) is producing unique colors as seen above

Mining
The Cruzeiro Mine has been commercially operational since the 1940’s when the US mined mica there during WWII for electronic components.  Since the 1950’s, it has produced fine quality rubellite, indicolite, bi-color and emerald green tourmalines 

Paraiba
Tourmaline ranges dramatically in demand and value, and the most desired is the Paraiba tourmaline from Paraiba, Brazil.  A relative newcomer in the gemstone world, these brilliant blue and green elbaite tourmalines were discovered in the late 1980’s.  Because of their scarcity and electric colors, caused by trace amounts of copper and manganese, they are now one of the most coveted gemstones in the world