What on earth is tourmaline?

Tourmaline is a kind of tourmaline that can reach the jewelry level in the tourmaline family. Tourmaline is a kind of borosilicate crystal and can contain aluminum, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium, potassium and other elements. it is precisely because of these chemical elements that tourmaline can show a variety of colors. The English name is derived from the ancient Sinhala (Ceylon) language, meaning "mixed gemstone".

According to legend, if anyone can find the foothold of the rainbow, he can find eternal happiness and wealth. Although there are often rainbows, they can never find their starting point. Not all stones are so lucky. The gem hidden at the foot of the rainbow is known as tourmaline and "rainbow falling into the world". At present, rubies, sapphires, aquamarine, Tanzania stone, emeralds and other natural gemstones are classified into the category of color gemstones, which are deeply loved by the public and have a huge market value-added space.

The composition of tourmaline is complex, and the color is also complex and changeable. The international jewelry world basically divides the commercial varieties of tourmaline according to color. The more colorful the color is, the higher the value is. Rose, purple, green, pure blue and pretty watermelon are the best. Pink and yellow take the second place, colorless, black is the most, and in the same color, they are divided into 4 grades according to the intensity of the color, which are rich, medium, light and dark.

In China, the word "tourmaline" first appeared in the Qing Dynasty, which was recorded in the classics of the Qing Dynasty. "the name of Biyamo, which is born in China, is unknown. The picture of the Qing Dynasty said: does the concubine use Biya at the top? Yu Hengzhi of Dianhai said: Bixia seal is Bixiaoxi on the one hand, Bixi on the other, and Yuji is also Bixiaxi. Today, the world can be called Biya, or the seal, the spirit stone, but has not asked the origin of its name, but it is a foreign dialect, there is no doubt. "

Tourmaline is one of the materials used by first-grade and second-grade officials to wear flowers, and it is also used to make the beads they wear. At the same time, tourmaline is also the favorite of the Empress Dowager Cixi, so in the Empress Dowager Cixi era, tourmaline received unprecedented attention in China. The Empress Dowager Cixi, who dominates the imperial government, not only has a special fondness for jade, but also dotes on the colorful and ever-changing tourmaline. Among the funeral objects of Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty, a lotus carved from tourmaline weighed 36 taels of money, and a pillow made of tourmaline was worth 750000 taels of silver at that time.