Lavender Tourmaline

Lavender tourmaline is a trade name for gem elbaite in soft purple tones, from pale lilac to gentle violet. It sits at the lighter, more pastel end of the purple tourmaline range.

The color is produced by manganese, sometimes modified by natural or applied irradiation, the same chemistry that gives pink and red tourmaline their hues. Lighter, cooler tones read as lavender, while deeper stones lean toward rubellite or siberite.

Its gentle, romantic color makes it popular for delicate and feminine jewelry designs.

Lavender tourmaline forms in granitic pegmatites from boron-, lithium- and manganese-rich late-stage fluids. Manganese gives the purple to pink coloration, and irradiation, whether natural in the ground or applied, can deepen or shift the hue.

Crystals grow in miarolitic pockets with quartz, feldspar, lepidolite and other gem tourmalines, frequently zoned between purple, pink and colorless.

Sources include Brazil, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Mozambique and Madagascar.

Lavender tourmaline has the typical striated prismatic habit and rounded triangular cross-section, hardness 7-7.5, vitreous luster, white streak and no cleavage.

Its pale purple color combined with strong pleochroism is diagnostic and helps separate it from singly refractive purple stones like amethyst (which is also softer relative ties aside) and from purple sapphire or spinel.

Compared with amethyst, tourmaline is more strongly pleochroic; compared with purple sapphire or spinel it is less dense and shows different optics, confirmed by testing when needed.

Lavender tourmaline is used in rings, pendants and earrings for its soft, romantic color, well suited to delicate and pastel jewelry. It pairs attractively with white and rose metals.

Clean, evenly colored stones are valued, though pale purple tourmaline is generally more affordable than vivid blue cuprian material.

Metaphysically, purple tourmalines are linked to intuition and the higher chakras, claims that are traditional rather than scientific.