The Trashing of Paraiba

     There is a debate currently raging within a small sector of the world-wide colored gemstone community regarding the use of the term 'Paraiba' and since we at Mayer & Watt have been active in the Paraiba market since 1989 we feel that we have an incentive to protect the very special place that Paraiba has attained within the 'collector' section of the market.
     There is no doubt that in the twenty five years that we have been in business, there has been no other gem material that, we as colored gem dealers, can point to as a true collector's item. The factors that all came together for Paraiba are well known. It is beautiful and it has a luster unequaled not only in the Tourmaline family, but in gemstones as a whole and it is RARE! The reason for its rarity is that the mine stopped producing; it was a small pocket. The
colors that came from that mine were also extraordinary. In the early days we had greens to rival the finest Tsavorite, Purples to rival the finest Tanzanites and of course once the heaters started experimenting the 'Scope' greens and 'Windex' blues became most prevalent. However
the use of the term 'prevalent' is misleading...the Paraiba material was never abundant and because it was also beautiful, retail customers did not care that it was just a lowly Tourmaline and demand increased while supply dwindled. These are the conditions that we as Gem dealers can only dream of! These stones didn't need hype; they really were beautiful and rare!
      Now what are we discussing... the trashing of one element that created and sustained the market for Paraiba. What made Paraiba rare was that the supply was finite. For twelve years it was the only Cuprian Tourmaline on the market. Then came the Nigerian deposit and now the
beautiful goods from Mozambique. There is no doubt that these stones resemble Paraiba and gemologically we know why...they contain copper. This is wonderful and gives the gem business a good shot in the arm. We always need new finds of material to keep the interest up and it is the one element of the business that I find truly invigorating, because I never know what I am going to see next.
      There is however only one motivation to get the labs to certify all Cuprian Tourmalines as Paraiba and that motivation is greed. Madagascar rubies are beautiful and rival Burma, BUT at this point in time stones identified from Madagascar garner lower prices than their counterparts
from Burma. That is as it should be..................Burma has a long and deserved reputation for its gem deposits. Can a Madagascar Ruby outshine a Ruby from Burma? Certainly! Should it be more valuable? That is for the market to determine. It is possible that if Madagascar continues to produce fine rubies to rival Burma then in 100 years rubies from Madagascar may be more valuable than Burma stones.  Paraiba was the first known Cuprian Tourmaline deposit and as such it should retain that status and its claim to the name. You may have noticed that I have not discussed the gemology issues here and I believe that they are a completely separate issue. The labs should do their job and identify ALL Cuprian Tourmalines as such and only if they have the database, should they then assign location. Paraiba is a trade name that denotes material from a specific region, as does Kashmir. If the labs cannot determine locale, instead of diluting the value of Paraiba by assigning that term to all future Cuprian Tourmalines they should just stick to gemology and allow the traders determine whether to call a stone Paraiba or not! What I see, is the proponents of expanding the usage of the term, are trying to ride the coat tails of Paraiba, instead of promoting what is truly a beautiful material in it's own right. If the material is really as good as Paraiba then it will by itself affect the Paraiba market and we will have a distinct collectors market in 'Mozambique' Tourmaline..........or lets be adventurous and use the local name where the material is found! Allow the market to work in a free and responsive way and let the prices be determined by the masters of our world...supply and demand!!