Pink Tourmaline

elbaite — the empress’s stone

Pink Tourmaline rough specimen on dark stone
Provenance
Brazil · Afghanistan · Pala, California
Mineral family
Tourmaline — a boron silicate, species elbaite
Hardness
Mohs 7–7.5 — wear-ready
Energy
Love — The warm-current frequency — affection with a live wire in it.
Tourmaline is the electric gem — warm it and the crystal genuinely polarizes, which had Dutch traders using it to pull ash from their pipes. The Dowager Empress Cixi loved the pink above all stones; tons of California’s Pala tourmaline sailed to her court, and she rests on a pillow of it still.
“The Empress Dowager rests, at the end, on a pillow of pink tourmaline.”Qing court record · Pala shipments