One of the most desirable gifts for March 8 is jewelry, because as the song goes, "diamonds are a girl's best friend". However, there are a lot of stones that are not inferior to them in beauty, and a few of them are even superior. One example is tourmaline, which at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was the most popular "women's" gemstone in China.
Tourmaline, which is found in nature in a wide variety of colors (more than a hundred shades), has been recognized since the earliest times. As the centuries passed and the historical eras changed, the popularity of the mineral only grew, and the geography of its mining expanded. This stone can be rightfully called the "royal stone," if we remember the ruling persons who owned it. One of them was the Chinese Empress Cixi, who actually ruled the country for almost 40 years.
She liked tourmaline so much that in the 19th century, China became the main importer of this stone. Of course, the supplies were almost entirely for the needs of the imperial court. The population of the empire, which was struggling to make ends meet due to the "wise" government of the Empress Dowager, had no time for jewelry.
Cixi fell in love with Tourmaline long before she became the concubine of the Chinese Emperor Yizhu, then his wife, and finally the sovereign ruler of the country. The road to power, luxury, and her favorite stone was a long and difficult one. The lengths to which she would go to get what she wanted is almost worthy of a novel: Cixi, the daughter of a Manchu official, used all the tricks in the playbook to get what she wanted: She even faked a pregnancy by putting on a fake belly.
It was not until she was in the emperor's harem that Cixi was able to stand out among the other mistresses of the Chinese monarch, but it was the tourmaline that helped her to do so. One day she bribed some eunuchs to carry a palanquin with the emperor through the part of the garden that was being tended by the future ruler of China. Yizhu heard the girl singing and turned his attention to her. The young concubine was wearing a ring with a beautiful bright red tourmaline on her hand. Since then, the stone became her talisman.
She preferred pink and red tourmalines that were mined in the deposits in San Diego and California. It is possible that the ruler of China, famous for her cruelty far beyond the empire, was suited to the color of the stones. The empress once held a tea ceremony at the site of a mass execution. While people were being slaughtered in front of Cixi’s eyes, she indifferently sipped her invigorating drink and occasionally glanced at her scarlet tourmaline jewelry.
With the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912, the American tourmaline market also collapsed. It was hard for the huge number of miners who were engaged in mining the stone. An entire historical era came to an end in China, and tourmaline was one of the symbols of its demise.
Today the mineral occupies a worthy place in the world of jewelry. Jewelry that uses this stone may cost more than a million rubles, that is why tourmaline is widely faked. There are several features that may help to distinguish a fake from the original. Fakes made of glass and all kinds of garnets can easily be identified by holding the stone in your hands. If the tourmaline is real, it will remain cold, but the glass will immediately begin to heat up. In addition tourmaline has one more interesting feature. If the mineral is rubbed a little on the woolen cloth, it will become electrified and will attract small particles. For instance, finely cut pieces of paper.
This is why the stone is considered to have both magical and healing properties, depending on its color. One of the most powerful is considered a green stone, which protects against all negative influences. Watermelon tourmaline restores the nervous system. Pink has beneficial effects on the skin, endocrine and respiratory systems. Blue has a positive effect on the eyes, immune system, brain, and glands of internal secretion.
The stone is as hard as quartz, so it is used in any kind of jewelry. Sometimes the physical processes that form the mineral bring surprising results. This is the case, for example, with the tourmaline crystal from Madagascar, preserved in the collection of the Saint Petersburg State Mining University.
Just take a look at the stunning pattern inside the stone. An almost perfect equilateral triangle, framed by a narrow border, very similar to a road sign or "emergency stop" on a car dashboard. How could nature create such a thing? It’s one of those mysteries that will remain for the years to come...
Translated by Diego Monterrey, for Northwest Forpost.
