I received it today, and though it’s a stunning and unusual stone, it’s definitely not a tourmaline! I went online to research my mystery stone, and from the descriptions and photos I found, it appears to be an andalusite, a stone I’d never heard of until today. Can someone ID this please? All I know for sure is that it’s not a tourmaline.
Also, I checked it through a 10 X Loupe and couldn’t find any flaws besides a few superficial abrasions on a couple facets that could probably be polished out. Is this even possible? Granted, my vision isn’t that great, but I can recognize an inclusion. God knows all my other stones have them.
Does anyone know about this particular cut? I’ve never seen anything like it. The facets terminate into a sort of harlequin design on either side. Each facet is cut at such an angle so as to reflect each other, creating sort of kaleidoscope effect with color and light. I assume that’s why the stone displays up to four colors and can seem black or transparent, depending on the angle it’s viewed from. OK, so this is probably faceting 101 to the rest of you, but I’m new to this, and it’s just so fascinating.
Tourmaline!!!
…ALL THE way this gem shows the beautiful characharistics of bi-colourd tourmaline.
In most casses the best and quickest way to check for the possibility of Tourmaline is to look for the presents of pleochroic colour play, meaning that there will be a visible color change in the gem when shifted around or when viewed at different angels. Tourmaline with some very small inclusions : may also be the best way as Tourmaline inclusions are some times only specific to this gem type, as with almost all gems types there are many sites with observational and informative information and visual aid’s that will steer you in the best direction for you to understand what you have?
I own both andalusite and tourmaline. In my opinion, this beautiful, fancy cut gemstone is definitely tourmaline. It’s impossible to be absolutely certain without gemological testing.
