Iso Green tourmaline

[Mlh]

Hello folks - had a question about green tourmaline - had one in a ring that was stolen several years back - the tourmaline was similar in size to stones tradionally put into mens' college rings - oval, with a length of maybe 1cm. This stone resembled a tiger eye but was less striated, green, semi-opaque. A couple local jewelers told me there were tourmalines that matched that description, others told me I must be wrong about the type of stone but it was bought new by a family member who always said it was tourmaline. I'm going to try and upload a picture, but it's not great. Hoping someone can ID the type of stone. Thanks much for any help you can provide.

 

[Bron357]

I may be wrong but I think tourmaline is more transparent even when included. And the Colour seems a bit too deep in tone. I’m thinking it looks more like nephrite jade or jadeite. These gems are also more likely to be cabbed (that the dome shape) and be semi opaque as opposed to transparent.

 

[arkieb1]

Its a bad blurry photo so it's hard to tell tourmaline does come in a really dark green like that but usually even when darker it is at least semi transparent... if it wasn't then it could have been something else.

 

[Mlh]

I may be wrong but I think tourmaline is more transparent even when included. And the Colour seems a bit too deep in tone. I’m thinking it looks more like nephrite jade or jadeite. These gems are also more likely to be cabbed (that the dome shape) and be semi opaque as opposed to transparent.

Thanks for your reply - I've been told something in the jade family by a jeweler, based only on the picture, but having seen the stone myself, it didn't look like jade except in saturation of color - I 'd best describe it as a tiger eye but with less pronounced striations. It would reflect light the way a tiger eye does as you turn it slowly under a light source. It was less opaque than most tourmaline I've seen but more translucent then jade. Sorry I don't have a better pic - that was not the original pic but a low res print for insurance. And the stone was in need of a polish.

 

[Mlh]

Its a bad blurry photo so it's hard to tell tourmaline does come in a really dark green like that but usually even when darker it is at least semi transparent... if it wasn't then it could have been something else.

Thanks for your reply. Yes, the photo is unfortunately all I have - it's a scan of the original which I can't locate. The stone was more translucent than it appears in the pic, due to poor lighting and the fact that it was sorely in need of a polish. If you check my reply to Bron 357, I talk about how it reflected light, like a tiger eye - as it turned, there was a somewhat iridescent band at the crest. But it was semi opaque. My dad always said it was a rare type of tourmaline and he bought it new from a jeweler who was a friend. Maybe he just thought he was a friend...

 

[FinewaterGems]

It appears to be a cat's eye tourmaline, especially since you say it showed chatoyancy (like a tiger's eye stone). You will find many photos of similar tourmaline in various qualitites if you Google "cat's eye tourmaline".

 

[Mlh]

It appears to be a cat's eye tourmaline, especially since you say it showed chatoyancy (like a tiger's eye stone). You will find many photos of similar tourmaline in various qualitites if you Google "cat's eye tourmaline".

Yes - cat's eye rings a bell - I believe that's what it is - thanks very much!