Mountain Laurel Teal Maine Tourmaline Ring

Mountain Laurel

Teal Maine Tourmaline Ring

I think Greek architecture and detailing up high on city streets with old buildings, details no longer seen at street level, but up high, detailing in brick and stone up near the roof line. Detailing you can only see by tipping your head back. There is a contemporary eye in architecture, for clean simple lines, Danish Modern, then there is an eye that wants more, wants to engage with not only shape and form, but wants to see detail, wants to see the highs and lows, the shadows and light. I get it. I found a matched pair of pedestal vases at a lawn and garden center. The shape, the size was perfect. The telling detail that made it so I had to have them was the leaf pattern around the upper rim. Every time I walk past these vases my mind, heart and soul jump with delight even if only for a second to two. There is some genuine pleasure in this sculpted pattern. I imagine all cultures, all civilizations that have added exquisite detail in leaf and curl, have felt the same as they built their great cities. The patterns are not all necessary to assist in holding the flowering plants. It certainly does, though, warm the oak terrace where the vases sit.

The Mountain Laurel design elicits the same response, and although the pattern is not identical, the deeply sculpted leaves in the ring delights some remote architectural detail loving part of the brain.

This Mountain Laurel leaf pattern sweeps up to the center gem, encircled with yellow gold. It is low-profile, comfy, smooth. The Egyptians, the Sumerians, the Greeks and Romans would approve.

Maine Tourmaline, A Maine Story
An American Gem

First discovered in 1820 and in subsequent finds over the years, these early discoveries put Maine on the world map as a source for high-quality tourmaline gems. A major discovery in 1972 on Plumbago Mountain in Newry, Maine established Maine as a significant world source of fine tourmaline gemstones.

Cross recognized the historical significance of this find and began working closely with the miners of these magnificent gems. The close partnership continues today with the ongoing discoveries in Maine’s western mountains.

100% Natural

We go to Maine’s gem mines. We know the miners. We know the gem cutters. We guarantee our tourmaline to be from Maine and is 100% natural. Cross maintains the largest collection of fine Maine tourmaline jewelry in the world.

Window of Opportunity

Fifty years have passed since the major 1972 tourmaline find in Newry, Maine where they found 3.5 million carats of tourmaline crystals. Over the years we bought more than we sold knowing that gem finds don’t last forever. There are now colors, sizes, and shapes that are extremely rare and, in some cases, no longer available. If you see something you love it’s best to act quickly. There’s no guarantee another gem like this one exists.

Case in point: In 2007 there was a find of tourmaline in Newry, Maine called Eureka Blue. People loved the color. The gems sold quickly, but the find was small and the mining only lasted a few seasons. Within three years of the discovery, all the large Eureka gems had sold. We still get calls from people who are now ready to buy. What they want, however, simply no longer exists from that find in 2007.

Gem finds are rare, especially in North America. Maine tourmaline is a piece of Maine and American history, it’s a connection to a place we all love, an exquisite creation of nature. Today, there is a rare opportunity to own a bit of Maine/American pride and heritage, and history in choosing a piece of Maine tourmaline jewelry.