We're currently in the process of organising our stock in preparation for the IJL. If you attended last year you may have seen our stand; how it looks all simple when it’s up and ready. Something only achieved due to our meticulous planning, spending time identifying which gemstones to bring and how to best arrange them.

Now, as we go through the stock I frequently hear “If I win the lottery I’m going to buy this stone”. The longer the person has been in the trade the more expensive and idiosyncratic their taste becomes. As some might know I've been in the trade for many years, and my lottery win is going to have to be a big one to finance my collection…

This 10.79 carat Paraiba Tourmaline (GQCA12) is one of my top choices. And with only one Paraiba Tourmaline mined for every 10,000 diamonds it probably comes at no surprise. There are very few Gemstones that come in the same extraordinary colour as Paraiba Tourmaline. The Americans call it Hollywood Swimming Pool Blue. The only other cut gemstone that comes close to the Paraiba’s colour is Apatite. However, Apatite has a hardness of 5 on the Moh's Scale of hardness making it too soft for a ring stone, but the Paraiba Tourmaline with its hardness of 7-7.5 makes it a good tough gemstone.

The name Paraiba comes from the from the original source in Brazil and it was said to have been discovered by Hector Barbosa. He was convinced that an old dilapidated opencast mine would yield an exceptional gemstone… Five and a half years after he began digging the first tourmalines were found. After a following five years the first source of copper coloured Paraiba tourmalines were found. For a Tourmaline to earn the name Paraiba it has to contain copper, and these fantastic copper rich gemstones have since been found in Mozambique and Nigeria.

The Paraiba tourmaline is a bright blue, and almost seems to fluoresce in dim lighting conditions. For a Tourmaline it is very clean and with the arrangement of its facets the light constantly moves when the stone is moved, making it very intriguing. If a lottery win were to provide me with a Paraiba I would want it as a ring stone. My reasoning? As a gem dealer I like to wear my stones on my hands so that I can constantly appreciate them.

If you're a lover of Paraiba Tourmaline we've got a great selection available in our online catalogue.  If you're after a particular cut, colour and type of stone please get in touch with the G.F. Williams & Co. team, give us a call on +44 (0)207 405 5477 or email office@gfwilliams.co.uk.