“….the trade has grown more hooked on Paraiba tourmaline than any other variety of this gem in modern history. It’s easy to see why. Its blues and greens are just about the breed’s best,” a quote from David Federman’s 1992 Gem Profiles/2 the Second 60. In his Paraiba Tourmaline Profile (first published in the January 1990 Modern Jeweler) Mr. Federman reports prices as high as $10,000 per carat and goes on to say, “Paraiba’s stones soared to new market highs and wrote a whole new chapter in tourmaline history.”

And the beat goes on! Paraiba’s marvelous blues and greens gave rise to a whole new suite of color modifiers for tourmaline; “neon,” “electric,” “Windex,” and “fluorescent” just to name a few. Other terms used to describe the colors were even more status worthy; “sapphire blue,” “emerald green,” and “tanzanite blue-violet.” The Paraiba colors set entirely new standards for the “best colors in tourmaline.” The gemologist can tell you all about Paraiba’s unique “hues,” “tones,” and “saturation,” but most people just rave about the pure, bright colors of these stones.