Black Tourmaline Carved Angel

Black Tourmaline, known to mineralogists as schorl, crystallizes in igneous rocks like granite and in metamorphic stone, forming long striated columns rich in iron. It grows worldwide wherever boron-bearing fluids meet the right conditions, from Brazilian pegmatites to the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Black Tourmaline is the iron-rich variety of tourmaline called schorl, a complex sodium iron aluminum borosilicate. It crystallizes in the trigonal system as long, deeply striated prisms and is notable for being both pyroelectric and piezoelectric, meaning it develops an electrical charge when heated or placed under pressure. Its opaque black color comes from its high iron content.

The name schorl is older than the mineral's science, tied to a medieval mining village in Saxony where black tourmaline was pulled from the ground long before anyone could name what it was., Tourmaline traveled to Europe from Sri Lanka in the early 1700s, where Dutch traders called it the stone that pulls ash from a pipe, having noticed it attracts and repels light bits when warmed, an early brush with its now-famous electrical charge., and Across folk traditions black tourmaline was carried as a guardian stone, tucked into pockets and doorways to turn away ill will, curses, and the heavy energy of unfriendly places.