- What's The Difference Between Black Tourmaline And Black Obsidian
- Black Obsidian Vs Black Onyx
- Obsidian Vs Tourmaline
| Translucent (see the shadow?) Black Obsidian (L), Black Tourmaline Nugget (R) |
- Black Tourmaline vs. The black obsidian is a volcanic glass, featuring a more fire element to it. Meanwhile, black tourmaline of an electrical stone. Both gemstones provide high protection against negative energies. They also have great.
- Handmade crystal pendant with natural Selenite Crystal and Black Tourmaline stacked together with silver edges. Handmade stacked crystal pendant is made from rough, natural SELENITE crystal.
Black Tourmaline is THE strongest protection crystal in the mineral kingdom. It deflects negative energy away from a person or area very effectively and is also the best protection crystal to use when carrying out spiritual work or to protect an altar, home or area. The word Tourmaline.
BLACK TOURMALINETourmaline is a beautiful gemstone that comes in many colors, and since it can't be created in a lab (so only natural Tourmaline is found), it can be very expensive. Black Tourmaline, or 'Schorl', is an inexpensive type of genuine Tourmaline---it's a rich black opaque color, and is found in abundance all over the world. Sometimes in bright light you can see glints of red--that's due to iron in the gem. It grows within host rock, in large crystals, small crystals, and in various nugget and chunk forms. Rough tourmaline can be left to look rough, or it can be polished, sliced, or faceted. If you are looking for Tourmaline to wear for its metaphysical properties, Black Tourmaline is a great and affordable choice.
Here are some examples of Black Tourmaline----if you google that, you can see a very wide variety of sizes and shapes of tourmaline nuggets, crystals, shards, etc. Here are pictures of rough chunks of Black tourmaline, taken from various geologic and gemstone websites:
That last picture is from an Etsy seller---a very reputable, large-volume gemstone seller, who correctly describes these as 'Tourmaline Gemstone Top-Drilled Large Raw Shards. Semi-Precious Gemstones.'
And here is the actual strand of these types of 'shards' of rough black Tourmaline that I purchased from another lovely seller on Etsy:
And it was one of those shards in that strand (right in the front!) that I sold to the one Amazon buyer who claims it's 'obsidian'. As you can see, these shards look the SAME as the rough pictured above---especially in pictures 3 and 4! These shards have been sliced and polished on the back, and the rough 'lumpy' part is on the front.
Here is my favorite picture of tourmaline 'in the rough'. It's a picture taken from the GIA website (Gemological Institute of America) in an article discussing Emeralds...but here is a large growth of Black Tormaline, plus Emerald, Mica, Pyrite and Quartz. But look at the 'lumpy' as well as 'crystal' nature of this large Tourmaline find:
I love how this shows the wide variety of shapes and forms of Black Tourmaline. It also shows the distinctive 'lumpy' rough texture that the tourmaline shards that I purchased exhibit. The upper right looks almost like burnt bark---and sort of like black lava rock! I would LOVE to have a piece of that beautiful emerald!!!
There are 'crystals' of black Tourmaline as well. These are found and sold in large nuggets, with more of a hexagonal crystal structure visible, and sometimes with crystal 'tubes' than run along the length of the nugget. Often they look a lot like pieces of black licorice. Some are very shiny and black. Often they have very visible fractures and other surface cracks and flaws. Here are some examples:
So you can see a wide variety of Black Tourmaline shapes---from crystals to nuggets to lumps and shards.
OBSIDIAN
Black Obsidian is black volcanic glass. It is translucent--not completely opaque. It's considered to be a mineraloid gemstone despite the fact that there is no mineral crystal structure in glass. But it is natural, very shiny and black (and can also be smokey grey, brown, rusty red, banded, with 'snowflakes' and in other colors). Obsidian has a smooth uniform texture, and breaks with 'conchoidal fractures' or semi-circular patterns. This is distinctive to obsidian and glass:
Now, both black tourmaline and obsidian are black and shiny. But obsidian does NOT have the rough and lumpy texture that tourmaline has. Plus, when obsidian is carved or split or broken, it fractures in distinctive round radiating circles---like when you toss a rock into a lake.
Incidentally, the value for black tourmaline and black obsidian is about the same, although there are many instances where obsidian is far more valuable than black tourmaline. Obsidian is often used in making black opal doublets and triplets.
Obsidian, being glass, is VERY sharp when broken, so there is no such thing as 'shards' of obsidian that are drilled and sold as pendants. (Haha---reminds me of the old SNL skit about a terrible kids' toy called 'Bag O' Glass'!) There are polished obsidian beads. Most obsidian is sold in chunks for gem collectors.
So really, it's pretty easy to tell Black Tourmaline from Black Obsidian, just from the pictures! And having it examined by a gemologist would tell you FOR SURE if it's glass or a mineral.
Other gems that look very similar to these black gems are Black Onyx and Hematite, and even Black Spinel. Chalcedony quartz is sometimes dyed black to look like Black Onyx.
Tourmaline is a beautiful gemstone and comes in many colors, including multi-hued gems such as Watermelon Tourmaline. Here are some incredibly beautiful shards of genuine tourmaline, and the price for these on Etsy (they are about dime-sized) is just under $1,000:
Don't they look like stained glass shards? They're so beautiful! And definitely NOT glass!!
Q&A >> How to tell apart Black Hematite, Tourmaline and Obsidian
Question:
Hi,
Is there a way to tell the difference between black hematite, black tourmaline and black obsidian. They all look the same to me. Thanks.
As an extension to my question on hematite, obsidian and tourmaline, do these three crystals carry similar energies, and is it safe to wear obsidian and tourmaline jewelry throughout the day/night? Thanks.
Esme
Answer:
Dear Esme,
In fact, it is not that difficult to tell the difference. All three have different compositions, different surfaces, and different weights.
Hematite is the heaviest of the three, because it is an iron-based stone. So, if you have a hematite, tourmaline and obsidian stone of roughly the same size, hematite will be the heaviest. Moreover, when polished hematite has a characteristic metallic luster, unlike obisidian or tourmaline.
Obsidian is a natural volcanic glass. It is a compact amorphous mineral. It feels like glass when you touch it. When polished, it can have a high luster, but the shine is not metallic.
The easiest way to tell tourmaline apart from the other two stones, are its parallel striations that run along the long axis of the crystal. However, if the tourmaline is polished, then there will be no parallel lines and it will be more difficult to distinguish between tourmaline and obsidian. In that case you may try to compare the transparency, because in most cases obsidian will be more translucent than tourmaline. The surface of obsidian is also more reflective. In addition, Tourmaline is heavier than obsidian.
To summarize, in terms of weight we have Hematite > Tourmaline > Obisidian.
In terms of shine of polished stone, we have Hematite - metallic shine, Obsidian - vitreous, highly reflective, Tourmaline - vitreous to pearly.
Tumbled hematite:
Black obsidian:
Tumbled black tourmaline (shorl):
As for the energy of the stones, hematite is a strong grounding stone. If you can stand its strong energy you can wear it throughout the day, but many people find that rather overwhelming. Black tourmaline has powerful protective energy. It wards off negative energy. Being a member of the vast tourmaline family, it is also a stone of strong spiritual energy. Black obsidian is also a protective stone (as are all black stones in general). If you find its energy compatible to yours, you can use it for personal protection.
I hope this helps. Thanks for the interesting question and God bless.
Olga
Comments:
What's The Difference Between Black Tourmaline And Black Obsidian
Blue Flower says:
01-19-2015
How can I tell Onyx from Obsidian apart?
sunnyray says:
01-30-2015
Obsidian and onyx are both black stones. Obsidian is of volcanic origin and, unlike Onyx, it is an amorphous stone, and looks very much like glass. So, it looks glassy, weighs less than Onyx and can have bubbles within. Onyx can have black or white bands on its surface.
paula says:
02-27-2015
This was very helpful to me. ~Thank you so much ~ very easy to read also ~ hakuna matata
Janice says:
04-01-2016
Hi i was just wondering how you can tell if a black tourmaline is real or not. Thank you
sunnyray says:
04-05-2016
If it is not tumbled, you can easily tell by the striations present on the surface of your black tourmaline.
Michael P Riley says:
05-16-2016
I found a piece of obsidian/hematite ??? that dropped out of the icesheet about 18,000 years ago, From a cornfield near Grafton, WI. It was very heavy and responded to my strong magnet. So now I know it is hematite, because obsidian is nonmagnetic.
Regina Burton says:
09-28-2020
I wanted to know if you wear black Obsidian and hemitate together will protect your aura and keep the negative people away? If someone has a pyhsic attack against you will wearing these two stone give it back to the sender?
sunnyray says:
09-28-2020
Hi Regina. That's the general idea. Depending on the circumstances, those two stones are believed to be able to work toward protection of the wearer, especially if you program them for the task. However, as always, the best possible protection could be to have compassionate love, noble thoughts, and selfless intentions toward all sentient beings.
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Black Obsidian Vs Black Onyx
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Obsidian Vs Tourmaline