Features reported for this material
Tourmaline
Striated prisms with a rounded-triangular cross-section — the striations run the length of the crystal and are diagnostic.
trigonal
Pink to red, commonly heavily included and fractured; clean rubellite is markedly scarcer than the colour suggests.
The drawing is a striated trigonal prism. Three-sided in cross-section with rounded corners, and heavily grooved down its length. Compare it with what is in your hand as a prompt for better photographs, not as an identification. Waterwear, damage and incomplete growth can remove the expected form.
Editorial status: specialist review pending
Evidence record for this page
The links are editorial source targets, not certificates for a submitted stone. The page remains noindex until a named specialist checks the entry claim by claim.
- Handbook of Mineralogy, Mineralogical Society of America — mineral identity, crystal system, habit, physical properties, recorded localities.
- GIA Gem Encyclopedia and Gems & Gemology research — gem-variety terminology, trade context, reported sources, treatment context.
- GIA introduction to gem treatments — treatment categories, limits of visual treatment assessment, disclosure context.
- CIBJO Coloured Stone Commission, Official Gemstone Book — accepted nomenclature, artificial-product terminology, treatment disclosure terminology.
Author: pending · Specialist reviewer: pending · Review date: pending · Next review: pending
What it gets mistaken for
Rubellite tourmaline is reported as being confused with ruby, red spinel, pink sapphire and kunzite. Photographs cannot resolve many of those alternatives. If you are not certain, say so and preserve the name you were originally given as a seller claim.
Also traded as: red tourmaline, pink tourmaline.
Where it comes from
Reported producing localities in this working reference include Brazil, Nigeria, Mozambique, Madagascar, Afghanistan, United States. This is not proof that a stone came from one of them, and it does not mean an approved purchase route exists there.
Treatment
Heating and irradiation both occur; irradiated material is excluded.
Tell us what has been done to it, if you know, and distinguish what you know first-hand from what somebody told you. Media cannot establish treatment. Any acceptance policy and laboratory requirement is decided for the case.
How to photograph it
Daylight, on a plain white surface, and, only if the material is safe to wet, photograph the same material dry and briefly wet. This can reveal different apparent surface and internal features without proving identity, quality or value. Put a ruler or another clearly identified scale reference in the frame. The full guide is here.