How Valuable is Tourmaline Stone? What is tourmaline price per carat?

What Makes Tourmaline Expensive?

Tourmaline is a beautiful gemstone. Its name is derived from the Sinhalese word Toramalli which means mixed, so it comes in a variety of colors like pink, red,black, blue, green, yellow and colorless.

In the gemstone market, tourmaline is considered to be a semi-precious gemstone. Most of the tourmaline stones are found abundantly in the world. Moreover, tourmaline can be easily cut into desired forms. These factors reduce the cost of tourmaline and make itaffordable for the consumers. Nonetheless, the price of tourmaline depends on the quality of stone.

Tourmaline Price Per Carat According to the Types

Price range per carat of rough tourmalines is quite reasonable i.e. $1–$12 per carat.

Black Tourmaline : Raw Black Tourmaline is $100 to $800 per kg . Whereas faceted and loose black tourmaline $5 to $25 per carat

Green Tourmaline: Price range is $20–$40/carat.

Bicolor Specimens: e.g. watermelon tourmaline cost $30–50/carat.

Indicolite Tourmaline: (blue colored tourmaline whosecolor is not caused by copper) costs about $1000–2000/carat.

Rubellite Tourmaline: price range is $1000–3000/carat.

Paraiba Tourmaline is the best quality tourmaline which comes in the range of $2000–10,000/carat or even more.

What is Price of Rarest Tourmaline Stone?

The rarest tourmaline colors include pure blue, blue-green, yellow, raspberry red, purple. These tourmalines are high priced due to their rarity.

Among these, the most popular ones are:

1. Paraiba Tourmaline:

Paraiba is the rarest and the most valuable tourmaline. Paraiba is considered the best quality tourmaline.Paraiba is thought to promote positivity and emotional connection.

Color: Neon blue color of Paraiba is so vivid and saturated that people also call this color “electric blue”.The presence of traces of copper and manganese is responsible for its color.

Origin: Paraiba state of northeastern Brazil.

Cut: Cushion or Oval

Carat Size: Paraiba stones are mostly found in carat size less than or equal to 1 carat.

Price: $2000–10,000+/carat for 3–5ct stones. Best quality Paraiba can cost up to $50,000/carat. Its vibrant color, radiant hue and rarity are responsible for its popularity among customers.

2. Chrome tourmaline:

Color: Chrome tourmaline exhibits a phenomenon ofcolor change called Usambara effect.

➢ When seen under fluorescent light, it appears green.

➢ Under incandescent light, it appears red orbrownish red.

Origin: Tanzania

Carat Size: up to 5 carats.

Price: $100–500/carat for 0.5–1 carat size stone.

$100–2000/carat for 1–5 carats.

3. Rubellite Tourmaline

Color: Raspberry red

Origin: Mozambique

Carat Size: Mostly 1–6 carats, rarely above 15 carats.

Price: $1000–3000/carat.

4. Watermelon Tourmaline

Color: Green rind with pink center.
Origin: Brazil, Afghanistan, Africa
Carat Size: Most valuable stones are more than 4carats size.
Price:

➢ Rough tourmaline: $20–200/ per grams

➢ Faceted tourmaline: $20–800/carat

➢ Cabochons: $15–40/carat, maximum up to $60/carat.

5. Cuprian Tourmaline

Color and Origin: Their color is similar to that of Paraiba, but their origins are Mozambique and Nigeria.That’s why cuprian tourmaline is also called Paraiba-type tourmaline.

Price: up to $10,000/carat.

Color-change Tourmaline

Color Change tourmaline stones are also exceptionally rare. They possess unique characteristics and color change properties which make them quite expensive.

Type of Tourmaline	Clarity \| Tourmaline Price Per Carat
Paraiba Tourmaline from Mozambique	Si to VSS $1,500 to $14,000 /- +
Pink Tourmaline	Si to VSS $100 to $1,500 /- +
Green Tourmaline	Si to VS $30 to $500 +/-
Watermelon Tourmaline	Si to VS $100 to $1,000 +/-
Paraiba Tourmaline from Brazil	Si to VVS $2,000 to $40,000 /- +
Rubellite Tourmaline	Si to VS $500 to $3,000 /- +
Chrome Tourmaline	Si to VS $500 to $3,000 +/-
Indicolite Tourmaline	Si to VS $1,000 to $2,000 +/-

What Factors Contribute to the Price of Tourmaline Stone?

There are many factors which contribute to the price of tourmaline. Raw Tourmaline is usually cheap comparatively cut tourmaline. Similarly, unique and rare combination of tourmaline crystals and fine mineral specimens goes to $$$$$ due to their rare structure and attributes. Those specimens are usually rare, unique and only one of the kind. Here are listed key points which determines the value of a tourmaline.

Raw Tourmaline Stones Price Factors

Sizes of Rough Tourmaline
Clarity and gem quality of tourmaline raw stones
Termination of tourmaline
If Cxis are open which are ideal for faceting
Is rough tourmaline facet grade or for making cabochons?
Color of tourmaline stones. Neo blue will be more rare and expensive than green tourmaline. Clean rubilite is hard to find. Therefore clean rubilite tourmaline raw stone will be exceptionally rare and expensive.
In case of rough crystals or fine mineral specimens, the more the specimen will be damage free, aesthetically unique and have other stones in combination, the more it will be rare and expensive.

Faceted Tourmaline Price Factors

Color: Color of Tourmaline is natural or heated. Heat treatment will lower the price than the natural. Light color tourmaline has less inclusion but they are very less liked by the buyer. Dark tourmaline stones have more inclusions especially in case of rubilite tourmaline. The inclusions give dark color to the stones. They are often replaced with rubies.

Cut: Cut of Tourmaline in loose stone matters a lot. If the cutting is excellent and there is no window, it will give brilliance to the tourmaline. Poor cutting lower down the value of a stone.

Clarity of stone is the third factor. The more the stone will be clean, the more its price will be higher. Dark color with minimum or less inclusions will be more ideal for buyers than the light color with less inclusions. Some buyers preference to have inclusions for their being close to the natural. Red and pink tourmaline inclusions are more visible and they are also the most desired tourmaline stones than the other colors despite less clarity. In faceted stones, buyer prefer eye clean to loupe clean stones.

Size Carat Weight: Bigger tourmaline stone will have more value and expensive than the low weight stone. For example, 1 carat tourmaline price will be less than 10 carat size stone.

Shapes: Shape of Tourmaline Cut Stone: The long shape of tourmaline crystals give the idea to the final gem's shape and size while leading to many narrow sizes. Tourmaline buyers prefer to buy standard sizes because they are easier to fit into standard gems jewelry settings.

Conclusion

So, the value of tourmaline depends mainly on the color and rarity of stone with Paraiba being the most popular and rarest tourmaline. With the passage of time, there is increase in the value of tourmaline.