Rubellite - Pink Tourmaline - Tower

Rubellite is technically the name for a deep pink/red saturated Pink Tourmaline, although it is often applied to this mixture of pink tourmaline in quartz matrix, often with some smoky quartz present.
Pink Elbaite Tourmaline is also referred to as Rubellite, and is found in shades varying from deep, almost ruby to pale pinks. It was a favored gemstone of Chinese Empress Tzu His, who imported the pink gemstones via Tiffany’s, from the San Diego mines in California. Over a period of 8 years in the early 1900s, Imperial China imported no less than 120 tons of gem quality pink tourmaline. When she died in 1908, she was laid to rest on a pillow of pink tourmaline.
Red and pink tourmalines, along with rubies, were also one of the gemstones used to designate the highest rank of Chinese Mandarins.