With it being October there are always thoughts of tourmaline—this month’s birthstone. Green tourmaline comes in a lot of shades of green. The gem in the picture shows us what a really great green tourmaline looks like.   Green itself as a color is a little complicated since it is a secondary color and is a combination of blue and yellow. In the case of green tourmaline these are the attributes which tend to be coveted:

1. Not too dark. There are oodles of green tourmaline that are too dark so as to be attractive. There are quite a much smaller number of green tourmaline gems that are a light and lively green. Our sample is light and lively almost like the Caribbean Sea. Mmmm!
2. Not too yellow.   Amongst the many green tourmalines which are too dark is a preponderance of gems that are also too yellow. In fact these gems have so much yellow in the green that they are what can only be called beer bottle green.
3. A little more blue than yellow.   As we can see in our sample we have a green that is slightly more blue than yellow—and yet green, green, green.