Black Tourmaline Crystal Bracelet - Grade A

Black tourmaline is schorl - a sodium iron-rich member of the tourmaline group, one of the most complex borosilicate minerals known, its formula running to a dozen elements. Iron gives the deep black. Mohs 7–7.5, harder than quartz and durable in wear.

Tourmaline grows in long crystals with a rounded-triangular cross-section, scored with fine grooves down their length - striations that often survive into the polished bead as faint parallel lines, a signature of the mineral.

Tourmaline is notably pyroelectric and piezoelectric: warmed or pressed, a crystal develops an electric charge along its length. Eighteenth-century Dutch traders knew it as aschentrekker, the ash-drawer, for the way a warmed crystal pulls up ash and dust.

Asked often

What are the fine lines on the beads?
Striations - lengthwise grooves that form as the tourmaline crystal grows. They often survive polishing as faint parallel lines, and are a signature of genuine tourmaline.

Is it really electric?
Tourmaline is pyroelectric and piezoelectric - warmed or squeezed, it develops a small electric charge along its length. Dutch traders called it the ash-drawer for pulling up ash when warm.

Is it hard-wearing?
Yes - Mohs 7–7.5, harder than quartz. It takes a crisp polish and wears well. Keep the cord dry.

How do I care for it?
Wipe with a soft, slightly damp cloth and dry. Hard and stable; keep the cord dry and avoid hard knocks.

1. Worn on either wrist, over the hand, on a durable elastic cord.
2. Look down the bead for the fine striations - the mineral’s signature.
3. Wipe with a soft, slightly damp cloth and dry.
4. Harder than quartz at Mohs 7–7.5 - keep the cord dry.

Many traditions rinse or air their stones from time to time; that is a matter of preference, and the rest is yours.

The elastic cord lasts longest kept dry - remove before swimming, bathing, or applying scent. Do not soak.

• Stone: Black tourmaline · schorl
• Composition: Complex sodium-iron borosilicate
• Crystal system: Trigonal
• Hardness: Mohs 7–7.5
• Character: Deep black · lengthwise striations
• Treatment: None · untreated
• Band: Durable elastic cord
• Origin: Brazil
• Care: Wipe with a soft cloth · keep the cord dry

Tourmaline’s electrical character made it an instrument of early science: in the eighteenth century Dutch traders used warmed crystals to draw ash from their pipes, and natural philosophers studied the same effect to understand how heat and electricity relate. The mineral sat on the laboratory bench before it was common in the jewellery box.

The name comes from the Sinhalese turmali, a term Sri Lankan traders used for the mixed gem gravels - tourmaline arrived in Europe as a stone whose own name admitted it had once been mistaken for others. Across many cultures the dense black variety was carried as a steadying token, named here as what people believed.