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Even in rough form, rare Paraíba tourmaline crystals emit a supernatural glow that is enhanced by cutting and polishing.
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Robb Report - Big Blue
by Laurie Kahle, Robb Report Magazine 09/01/2004
During what was supposed to be a routine gem deal in Brazil in 1989, miner Heitor Barbosa emptied the contents of his bag onto the table in front of gem dealer Marcelo Bernardes and spread out about 6.5 pounds of bright blue mineral crystals. The reserved and savvy Bernardes was impressed by the stones’ electric blue color, but he was also skeptical. He had never seen tourmalines like these before, and he is an expert, after all, having grown up in the family gem business. The discovery of a new gemstone is hardly an everyday occurrence.
As he recalls the meeting, Bernardes, speaking in impeccable English, sounds like an old fisherman relaying a tale of one that got away. Traveling by bus in the northeastern Brazilian state of Paraíba along 10 miles of rugged dirt roads, he is accompanied by a small contingent of fellow gem dealers, gemologists, and journalists who have been invited to tour the Paraíba Tourmaline Corp. mine. The destination is the remote town of São José da Batalha. The route passes fields of cactuslike plants, dirt soccer fields, impoverished villages, and groups of children, who stare, point, and wave at the bus as it approaches the source of Brazil’s most expensive colored gemstone, set in the ground under one of the country’s poorest regions.
“We had never paid such a price for tourmalines before,” Bernardes says, continuing his story about his first encounter with Paraíba tourmaline and recalling how he balked at the price requested. Barbosa responded by comparing his stones to priceless works of art by van Gogh, paintings that, unlike the tourmaline, are reproducible to some degree. “ ‘Look at the beauty of these stones,’ he said to me,” says Bernardes. “ ‘They took millions of years to form and then they had to be found. Why are they not worth that [price]? I think they should be worth more.’ ”
Barbosa’s deft salesmanship did not sway Bernardes. Although the color was brilliant, the size of the stones did not impress him. They averaged about a gram each, which would yield a gem of about one carat. Bernardes insisted on testing a sample, which demonstrated that the Paraíba tourmaline’s color is attributed to its high copper content. In fact, Paraíba tourmaline is the first known gemstone with copper dioxide (in combination with manganese) as its color source. “It’s a unique geological situation that is very difficult to repeat anywhere else,” explains Bernardes, noting that the color of a similar tourmaline, which was subsequently discovered in Nigeria, pales in comparison to its Brazilian counterpart and, accordingly, sells for a tenth of the price. After confirming that the stones were natural and authentic, Bernardes offered to buy the entire lot. Barbosa refused but promised to return every month with a few grams for Bernardes, a commitment he honored for many years.
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When Tiffany & Co. acquires
significant Paraíba stones,
it designs one-of-a-kind pieces
around the gems.
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While Bernardes missed the opportunity to corner the market in Paraíba tourmaline, his connection to the source enabled him to introduce the stone in 1990 at the annual gem fair in Tucson, Ariz., where it immediately became a hot commodity. During the four-day show, wholesale prices skyrocketed from a few hundred dollars a carat to more than $2,000. “It’s astonishing—no other gemstone has experienced such a price hike and demand,” says Bernardes. “Of course, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds can sell for $10,000 per carat, but those are stones with a 2,000-year history. This stone reached those prices in only a few years, and it never came down.”
Soccer, samba, and sex may be Brazil’s best-known cultural passions, but the country is also one of the world’s most abundant sources of colored gemstones. Throughout the state of Minas Gerais, which translates to “general mines,” the earth is fertile with crystal bounties: emerald, aquamarine, imperial topaz, tourmaline, and the list goes on. Paraíba tourmaline, however, is unique because it is found in only one tiny, remote region of the country. Rarity aside, what impresses people most is its vivid blue hue—some liken it to the color of Windex.
“You don’t find many materials in nature that have that color,” says Brazilian jewelry designer Antonio Bernardo, who has a boutique in South Miami, Fla. “Using Paraíba makes sense for me because it is a stone that was discovered in Brazil, and it shows the maximum color that our country can produce. Like our music, it is very intense and powerful.”
Such intensity makes Paraíba the perfect gemological symbol for Brazil, says Lucas Amelung, the director of acquisitions at Molina Fine Jewelers in Phoenix, Ariz., who is as passionate about the country as he is about gems. “More than any other stone to come out of Brazil,” he says, “Paraíba tourmaline truly represents the essence of the country, with its electrifying quality and intense blue color that evokes the ocean and sky.”
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