Green and blue-green tourmalines available in Teófilo Otoni in 2005

Tourmalines selected from a "salada" and purchased in late 2005 in Teófilo Otoni, Minas Gerais, Brazil, from Valdair Santos.

What is a salada (salad)? Well, a salad is a bag of tourmalines of all different shapes, sizes, and colors. The bags can be of different qualities of the stones.

For example, the selection above was taken from a very high quality salad. In fact, the seller was doing me a big favor to let me select out the ones that I thought were the best (or at least the ones that I thought that I could afford).

These saladas that are a large quantity of cut stones in a big plastic bag have some essential drawbacks -- 1. you are not going to find any matching pairs. 2. the chance of finding an undamaged stone is really slim -- they are not being well-treated by being flung around together like that. 3. since it is difficult to find a stone in relatively good condition, you will have to spend a lot of time looking.

But if you have the time and patience and you don't go blind while you spend hours looking at the stones with a loupe, then you may be rewarded by finding some very pretty tourmalines.

Once, while still a relative newbie, I spent 10 hours over two days looking through saladas, only to buy just R$800 worth of tourmalines (about US$400, at that time), but it was worth it. I did actually see nothing but colored tourmalines dancing in front of my eyes when I tried to sleep that night.

Usually, dealers prefer to sell the entire salad in one go (yeah, who wouldn't?). They would rather not waste their time while some tourist or buyer without much money sits there and spends an hour picking over their wares.

They particularly would prefer that someone not pick out all the really good stones and leave the rest. (A few years back, dealers would "sweeten" the salada by putting in a few larger, higher-quality stones to make the whole salada look better.) Those were the good ol' days, long gone, now, it seems.

Usually, on the last day of the annual gem fair, the prices will go down, and on the day after the last day, you can sit out in the praça, in the morning, and possibly get some really good prices. Some mighty nice pickin's are to be had if you can stay over an extra half day.

Have a look at this salada from the Brazil Gem Show held in Governador Valadares, MG, in 2007 (photo taken indoors under artificial light). I picked over it for at least an hour and found nothing.


But, there are also other types of saladas, for example when cut stones, often with some that match in size, cut, and color, are laid out on pieces of cotton covered with saran wrap (the stones sort of stick to it) and folded up in sheets of white paper.

THIS POST IS INCOMPLETE -- TO BE CONTINUED . . .



OK, this photo is of a lot of wimpy-colored, rubelite tourmalines, but I am using the photo to show you how a salada is laid out on saran-wrapped cotton. Also, notice the middle stone in the second row from the bottom. That might be a keeper. And also possibly the one to the left of it. Or, on second thought, maybe not. Look, this is not the real juicy rubelite color. But, if you click on the photo, you will be able to see in detail some of the usual rubelite inclusions. Personally, if someone shows me a rubelite with no inclusions at all, I am not going to buy it unless I know and trust that seller really, really well.

Do you wanna go window shopping? Just look at 'em all!

Do you see any stones that have the same dimensions so you could buy a pair to be used in earrings?

Don't pay a lot for this muffler!

Copyright © 2009 N. Tenney Naumer -- All rights reserved.