Spectacular lot of Afghan Tourmaline running from a lovely Windex Blue to a Deep Electric Sapphire Blue. This is some of the best Blue colored material we have EVER seen coming from Afghanistan in a very long time as far as Blues are considered. This material is from a relatively new find and we had originally thought this was Paraiba Type Tourmaline though testing proved otherwise. Overall this material is an awesome Windex Blue and for the price I'd chalk it up right next to being a give-away! The intensity of the Blue color on these is very unusual due to the almost total lack of a Green component. This is a rarity to find in this color from Afghanistan and we were lucky to have this lot come by us at a reasonable price. We are confident with a little hard work and some planning you will get some spectacular finished stones from the Lot.

Overall 80%+ of this material looks like it is capable of cutting Eye-clean or better with a little hard work and this is a STEAL at our price.  Some stones do have some minor inclusions that will facet out with a little planning; however, some inclusions may force you to divide up one or two stones to get Eye-clean finished gems from them. Overall the C Axis on these looks closed but that may be due to the length of the crystals. We have seen and purchased a few stones that were faceted from this same mine and this material will BLOW you away once it is cut. This is probably the best lot we currently have up as far as Blues go and for the price it is likely to go quick so don't pass this by!

1. Afghan Tourmaline pockets tend to be relatively small in size and as a result consistency in color & quality is a rarity! We have never seen Afghan Tourmaline sold by the kilo with like colored and quality material and lots are generally small in size seldom going over 1/2-1 kilo.

2. All Afghan Tourmaline is exhumed from primary deposits and as a result mining costs are considerably higher due to dynamite expenditures and traveling expenditures to get to remote mining areas. It is also interesting to note that since all Afghan Tourmaline is from primary deposits most rough will usually have sharp crystal faces.