Tourmaline group minerals have graced the cabinets of mineral collectors and museums for untold generations. Their colors and color patterns, along with their diverse shapes and associations, have assured their role as exqui site showpieces. Their workability and durability have, in addition, made them favorites among connoisseurs of colored gemstones. Tourmalines, however, are much more than exquisite showpieces and beautiful gemstones. Their diverse crystal forms and unique structure, their variable chemical compositions, their intriguing physical properties, and their widespread occurrence in nearly all kinds of rocks have long attracted the attention of scientists from several disciplines. Furthermore, they have several potential uses in science and industry. From an historical standpoint: Tourmaline is possibly the "Lyngurium" -green at one end, light colored at the other-that Theophrastus (ca.315 B.C.) described in On Stones, the first known book about minerals. Tourma line is one of the minerals thought to have been used as a "sunstone" navigation compass by Vikings during the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries.

Tourmaline group minerals have graced the cabinets of mineral collectors and museums for untold generations. Their colors and color patterns, along with their diverse shapes and associations, have assured their role as exqui site showpieces. Their workability and durability have, in addition, made them favorites among connoisseurs of colored gemstones. Tourmalines, however, are much more than exquisite showpieces and beautiful gemstones. Their diverse crystal forms and unique structure, their variable chemical compositions, their intriguing physical properties, and their widespread occurrence in nearly all kinds of rocks have long attracted the attention of scientists from several disciplines. Furthermore, they have several potential uses in science and industry. From an historical standpoint: Tourmaline is possibly the "Lyngurium" -green at one end, light colored at the other-that Theophrastus (ca.315 B.C.) described in On Stones, the first known book about minerals. Tourma line is one of the minerals thought to have been used as a "sunstone" navigation compass by Vikings during the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries.

Taking its name from the Latin rubellus, meaning "reddish," rubellite was rare in the ancient world. Its unique properties set it apart from other hard, red gemstones, generically known then as "ruby" or "carbuncle." That distinction was lost during the Dark Ages but revived in the Enlightenment, as science undertook its quest to understand the nature of things. For two and a half centuries, rubellite has had a part of that great unraveling.Today "rubellite" refers to the pink to red variety of tourmaline, a large group of borosilicates. Coveted most for its endless combinations of vivid colors, just a handful of species -elbaite, liddicoatite, rossmanite -form rubellite, which is found as large, gemmy, euhedral crystals in pegmatites across the globe.With articles covering history, culture, science, and localities, our expert authors explore the fascinating world of rubellite and its complicated mineral family. Extraordinary imageryilluminates their stories, enticing readers into the paradox of rubellite and its tourmaline brethren.