1.5" Gemmy Rubellite Tourmaline Crystal - Aricanga Mine, Brazil

Rubellite is a pink-red variety of elbaite, a member of the tourmaline group. Elbaite is a form of tourmaline that is perhaps the most multicolored mineral. It has been discovered in virtually every color of the spectrum and has dramatically increased in popularity since the 1990s. While specimens are commonly faceted into gemstones, most high quality crystals are left as is, or are cut and sold as cross-sectional slices. Elbaite forms as short, stubby, and/or elongated prismatic crystals, often with lengthwise striations. Elbaite aggregations can occur as botryoidal, columnar, radiating crystals and in compact masses.

Elbaite has a wide variety of names, both classic and modern, depending on the colors it presents. They include achroite, a colorless variety; blue cap tourmaline; chrome tourmaline, a green variety caused by chromium impurities; fluor-elbaite; indicolite, a blue variety; Moor's head tourmaline; mushroom tourmaline; Paraiba tourmaline; rubellite, a pink-red variety; siberite, a purple variety; verdelite, a green variety; and watermelon tourmaline, a unique variety with a green exterior and pink to red interior.

The chemical formula of elbaite is Na(Li,Al)3Al6(BO3)3Si6O18(OH)4.