Mozambique Cuprian Tourmaline, Part III

Purple Cuprian; A dilemma:

By Richard W. Wise, G.G.

©2006

“I know what you’re thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?”

Clint Eastwood

As tourmaline aficianados know, there are few truly rare colors of tourmaline. A pure yellow without a stong green secondary hue is quite rare and I have never seen a true violet but until recently, purple was the one spectral color that absolutely did not exist in tourmaline. Yes we had purplish reds but until last year when the Alta Lighona tourmalines from Mozambique entered the market, never a stone with a purple primary hue. (pictured above: 15.5 carat purple Mozambique cuprian tourmaline courtesy Pala International)

In early 1989 when the first curpian tourmalines from Paraiba appeared in the market in Brazil some were sold unheated. Most of these stones were a dark toned greenish “sapphire” blue, a “Thai sapphire blue” to be precise. In those days, blue was the most expensive, elusive and sought after color in tourmaline. Rumors whispered of a pure blue gem that was reputed to rival the finest in Burmese sapphire. This was the holy grail of tourmaline. I recall holding on to one parcel of natural dark blue Pariaba for several years before I burned them just in case the demand for the medium electric blue proved to be a passing fancy. Well, as we know it did not and when I finally did heat it, the result was a half dozen pure medium toned visually pure Carrribean blue gems that I sold at a substantial profit.

Since that time I have seen many examples of blue tourmaline including the famous Manoel Mutuca (described by Proctor as “sapphire blue” see Gems & Gemology, Spring 1985, p.11)) and Santa Rosa material but none (at least so far) with a true pure blue hue. Blue tourmaline always has a distinct greenish secondary hue which becomes quite evident when it is compared stone to stone with fine sapphire. Blue tourmaline can be exceptionally beautiful but it looks like tourmaline not sapphire.

To burn or not to burn or “Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?”

With the entry of Mozambique curprian tourmaline we have a dilemma similar to the situation with the early Brazilian curprian tourmaline namely that some of the unburned material has a rich pure purple hue that reminds one of Siberian amethyst or fine purple sapphire. The difference is that unlike the rather dull greenish blue unheated Paraiba, this stuff is beautiful,

The Mozambique purples have a hue that is rich and pure. So, to burn or not to burn, that is the question, according to both Gene Flanigan from Precision Gems and Josh Hall at Pala International, these deep purples are also the best candidates for the oven, they heat to a neon pure medium “Paraiba” blue.

Some dealers have chosen the obvious solution. If you want a pure purple but burnable stone they will charge the same price as for the neon blue.(pictured above: unheated cuprian rough from Mozambique). Pictured below is an exceptional 1.89 carat custom cut Carribean blue cuprian stone cut from the center piece of rough. After and before; the first image shows the cut stone before heating. The second image shows the stone after the heating process was completed. The stone, currently available for sale at www.rwwise.
com was cut by Gene Flanigan a very talented lapidary artist from upstate New York. (Images courtesy Gene Flanigan: www.precisiongem.com)

Will purple tourmaline go the way of fine star sapphires that hardly exist anymore because they can be burned and faceted? I don’t think so, some of the fine purples simply possess problematic inclusions that make them risky candidates for burning. I found an 8.19 carat oval, a lovely example of Mozambique purple on my last trip to Asia. This stone faces up clean but under magnification shows long growth tube inclusions and cannot be burned. It is out having its picture taken and will be posted in a later blog. Logically purple cuprian tourmaline will have a two track price structure. Stones with a high degree of clarity under the loupe will sell for prices that may be double that for stones with certain types of inclusions whether visible or not.

Bits and Pieces:

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