can tourmaline spontaneously crack?

[bludiva]

I have a little round tourmaline that i was thinking about setting into a ring. I went to look at it today and there is a little line near the center, it looks like a feather or crack. I haven't dropped it or done much of anything with it so wondering how this happened? It definitely wasn't there before. Will try to take pics tmrw ... my phone cam is pretty useless. Tried cleaning it, it definitely is internal to the stone. Bummer.

 

[Arkteia]

I have a little round tourmaline that i was thinking about setting into a ring. I went to look at it today and there is a little line near the center, it looks like a feather or crack. I haven't dropped it or done much of anything with it so wondering how this happened? It definitely wasn't there before. Will try to take pics tmrw ... my phone cam is pretty useless. Tried cleaning it, it definitely is internal to the stone. Bummer.

So very sorry for you.

I read once that inner tension forces in tourmalines were high and tourmalines would be easy to crack with minimal force. I don't know what it means in terms of your situation, whether it was a tiny crack that got bigger or whatever tiny force was applied to it was enough for the stone to crack.

I don't know what specialists will say, but in my mind the answer is, yes.

 

[arglthesheep]

Hi bludiva,
it think the answer is not a general one. Every stone which has a crack or stress inclusion can possible crack. But normally, if you dont do anything worse with it (heating, setting) it shouldn´t do it alone. It always depends also on the iniclusions, if its a healed inclusions, it should not be that bad, but if its a real crack in the stone the risk is there, as they normally come from tension. Best thing would be to ask the experience of your jeweller, he should normally have a chance to tell you if the inclusion is a risk or not. But be aware, no one knows for sure.

 

[bludiva]

Thank you both. It's bizarre as no force has been applied to it and there was no visible internal inclusion before. I was going to take it in for an estimate on a setting this week so I'll go anyway and ask what could have gone wrong.

It wasn't expensive but it was really pretty and now I'm sad....

 

[Arkteia]

Thank you both. It's bizarre as no force has been applied to it and there was no visible internal inclusion before. I was going to take it in for an estimate on a setting this week so I'll go anyway and ask what could have gone wrong.

It wasn't expensive but it was really pretty and now I'm sad....

Really sorry. I know the feeling - and good luck!

 

[chrono]

Very unusual situation. I’m veru sorry. Tourmaline are only stressed when heated and faceted.

 

[bludiva]

well i ended up putting the tourmaline into a pendant setting (prenotched, DIY!) and the feather isn't as noticeable. silver doesn't do anything for the stone's color but came out better than i expected

 

[voce]

I think the tourmaline fits the pendant setting well. Congrats on doing a good job on your DIY!

 

[bludiva]

I think the tourmaline fits the pendant setting well. Congrats on doing a good job on your DIY!

Thank you!!