Gemstone Glossary

Indicolite Tourmaline

Indicolite (also spelled: Indigolite) is the beautiful greenish blue to hot blue variety of Elbaite, which belongs to the Tourmaline group. Tourmaline is considered one of the most colorful members of the gemstone family, sometimes with alternating colors in the same gem. Elbaite is the most popular variety of Tourmaline that comes in many varied and beautiful colors. It is transparent to translucent and is highly prized as both minerals specimens and as gemstones. Other varieties are usually opaque and have little gem value.

Indicolite is one of the rarer varieties of Elbaite. Its typical color is a deeper almost neon blue than other blue gems such as Aquamarine and Blue Topaz. Other varieties include: a cat's eye variety, Verdellite (green), Rubellite (pink to red) and Watermelon Tourmaline (green and red in the same stone). All Elbaite specimens are strongly pleochroic meaning that they show stronger or even different colors when viewed from different angles. In Indicolite, this property causes the blue color to appear darker when viewed down the long axis of an uncut crystal. The gem cutter must be aware of this in order to maximize the color potential of the stone.


With a hardness of 7 to 7.5 on the Moh’s Scale, Indicolite is a very good wearing stone. The variety is now becoming very popular on the gemstone market. The majority of this gemstone is mined in Madagascar, North America, Brazil, Myanmar, Africa, Siberia, Australia, and Sri Lanka.

As a gemstone of the Tourmaline group, Indicolite is a birthstone for those born in October. Its blue color is believed to have a soothing power and is said to help relieve stress.