Tourmalines come in just about every color in the rainbow. Some of the colors have unique jewelry related names.
Pink to Red tourmaline is known as rubellite, and the color is probably from manganese. It is one of the most valuable of the tourmalines when the colors are dark and rich. Large flawless stones are rare, as the pink variety tends to have more flaws.
Greens - there are two distinct families of green tourmaline, one contains trace amounts of chromium (and coincidentally is called Chrome Tourmaline). It has a high value. Other shades of green may run from light green, to dark olive green and they tend to have less value than the chrome, blue or pink
Amethyst is the purple variety of quartz and is a popular gemstone. If it were not for its widespread availability, amethyst would be very expensive. The name "amethyst" comes from the Greek and means "not drunken." This was maybe due to a belief that amethyst would ward off the effects of alcohol, but most likely the Greeks were referring to the almost wine-like color of some stones that they may have encountered. Its color is unparalleled, and even other, more expensive purple gemstones are often compared to its color and beauty. Although it must always be purple to be amethyst, it can and does have a wide range of purple shades.
