Gemstone Information
Agate - Has been used since time immemorial as a decorative gemstone and is the name given gemstones which includes Chrysoprase, Onyx and Sardonyx. Agate and Jasper are the same, the difference is that Agate is translucent whereas Jasper is opaque.
It is said to protect from stress and energy drains. They also help balance the physical, spiritual, emotional and intelligence energies as well as offering protection and good luck.
Amazonite - A gemstone variety of the mineral felspar which ranges in colour from yellow green to blue green and sometimes has light striations, it is opaque to translucent.
Ancient Egyptians used Amazonite widely and called it the courage stone, it was said to be named after Amazon women warriors. Other sources suggest that it was named after the Amazon River but Amazonite hasn’t been found there.
It is used in the jewellery industry for cabochons or made into Amazonite beads.
Found in the USA, Zimbabwe, Russia, Australia and Brazil.
It is said that Amazonite makes your skin better and has a soothing effect on the nervous system and brain releasing fear and anxiety. It is believed to make your married life better.
Amethyst - Is the violet purple variety of quartz and is the most popular and expensive of the quartz varieties which include Citrine, Clear Quartz (Rock Crystal) Smokey Quartz. The colour of Amethysts vary from a deep violet purple to an almost pink in colour. The name is said to have been derived from the Greek word "amethystos" meaning "not drunken" and was belied to have protected people who wore it against drunkenness.
It is found in a number of countries but most comes from Brazil, Uruguay, Africa and Russia.
Amethyst can be made in the laboratory and its believed that as much as 70% of the faceted stones on the market are Lab created.
It is the birthstone for February.
Ametrine - A natural variety of quartz which is a mixture of amethyst and citrine. Sometimes the citrine is very pale to almost clear quartz. Almost all of the Ametrine on the market comes from the Anahi mine in Bolivia. Artificial Ametrine can be made by partial heating of Amethyst.
Apatite - Is a naturally occurring phosphate mineral the principle use is in the manufacture of fertiliser but there is gemstone quality Apatite. Apatite ranges in colour from green, blue, brown, red, pink and white and is transparent to opaque.
The more transparent with the most intense colour the higher the value of the stone. It can be faceted or cut into cabochons or beads. Apatite with rutile when cut into cabochons shows a cats eye effect.
The origins of the name are from the Greek words "apate" which means deceit or deceiver because this gemstone can be confused with other gems such as Peridot, Beryl and Fluorite.
Found around the world but major sources are Brazil, Burma and Mexico
Aquamarine - This beautiful blue stone whose Latin name Aqua-water and Mare- sea or seawater perfectly describes it. It belongs to the Beryl family of gemstones which apart from Aquamarine includes Emerald, Yellow Beryl (Heliodor), Pink Beryl (Morganite) and White Beryl (Goshenite). Good quality Aquamarine is usually free from inclusions whilst lower quality Aquamarine has inclusions and areas of opaqueness. It is a hard stone which makes it suitable for jewellery that is worn regularly.
Most of the Aquamarine on the market comes from Brazil but is also found in Nigeria, Zambia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It is said to arouse feelings trust, Harmony, friendship and sympathy. For hundreds of years it has been regarded as the sailors stone.
It is the birthstone for March and the wedding anniversary stone for the 19th anniversary.
Aventurine - is a translucent form of quartz which has mineral inclusions of green mica which give a glistening or shimmering effect called aventurescence. Aventurine is usually green but it also comes orange, brown, yellow, blue and a silvery grey. The appearance of the green variety looks like Jadeite Jade and is sometimes mistaken for it.
Aventurine is found in numerous places around the world but mostly comes from India, Brazil, China, Japan, Tanzania and the USA.
It is said to release fear and anxiety, increase the libido and strengthen one’s blood and muscle. It is also called the lucky talisman and is popular with gamblers and risk takers.
Azurite - is a copper mineral produced by the weathering of copper deposits resulting in a lovely soft blue mineral. It is a very soft material and its use in jewellery is usually limited to beads and cabochons.
Black Agate/Onyx - is a member of the chalcedony family of gemstones. It is black with white stripes or black. It is a hard stone that takes a good polish. Found mainly in India and South America.
It is said to give protection, courage, strength and success.
Carnelian - A translucent variety of quartz and falls in the Chalcedony family of minerals. The colour is reddish brown with shades ranging from orange to reddish brown.
Primarily found in India, Brazil and Australia. Sometimes also called Sard.
Chalcedony - is a mircocrystaline or fibrous quartz. The Chalcedony family of gemstones include agate, jasper, bloodstone, carnelian, onyx, chrysopase and chalcedony, but in the jewellery industry chalcedony usually means Blue Chalcedony.
It occurs in many colours but is usually a very light blue, yellow, brown or grey translucent stone.
Chalcedony has been used by civilisations since Greek and Roman times and in fact is named after a small Greek town in Asia Minor called Chalkedon. The Romans used it for carving seals and in Victorian times it was used for cameos, seals and intaglios. Nowdays it is cut into cabochons or made into Chalcedony beads.
Found though out the world but the best quality comes from Burma, Brazil, Mexico USA and India.
It is said to banish fear, depression and sadness and promotes calm and peace stimulating creativity.
Chrysocolla - An attractive blue green copper mineral found in association with copper deposits. It use in jewellery is mainly as beads but high quality gem grade material is translucent and suitable for jewellery.
Chrysoprase - is a rare variety of chalcedony (quartz). Its colour is opalescent apple green but does range to deep green as a result of impurities. It is cryplocrystaline this means it is composed of very tiny crystals of quartz and impurities which cannot be seen with the naked eye but only under magnification. It is one of the rarest chalcedonies and the most valuable.
It is found in Western Australia, Queensland, Germany, Poland, Russia, USA, Brazil.
Citrine - are part of the quartz family of gemstones which includes amethyst. They come in a variety of shades of yellow from pale lemon through to dark reddish brown and are sometimes mistaken for the more valuable Imperial Topaz. Although they are found in nature they are quite rare and the colour is usually light yellow. Approximately 200 years go it was found that if you heated amethyst or smokey quartz to around 500 degrees they would undergo a permanent colour change to the yellow of citrine. For this reason most of the citrines on the market today are heated amethysts or smokey quartz.
Citrine is said to give success and abundance and is said to be called the merchants stone.
It is one of the three birthstones for November.
Clear Quartz - also known as Rock Crystal or Crystal quartz. It is a colourless quartz gemstone which is the same as Citrine, Amethyst or Rose quartz but without any impurities to colour it. It is faceted and has a gentle beauty about it. Quartz is one of the most plentiful minerals on earth being found everywhere but clear quartz for use in jewellery comes mainly from Madagascar, and Brazil.
Coral - has been used for jewellery for thousands of years. Red coral is found in the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic near Gibraltar and the Cape Verde Islands. There is also a variety of Red Coral found in the Western Pacific around Japan and Taiwan where it occurs at great depths. Coral comes in colours that range from pale pink to deep red and because of its relative hardness can be polished to glassy shine. If it is real coral it sometimes will have small black imperfections.
Coral is believed to ward off evil spirits and bring prosperity and health.
Fluorite - is a mineral with a wide range of colours, it ranges from purple, blue, green, yellow, colourless to brown, pink, black and reddish orange. It is a relatively soft stone that may be scratched of broken. In certain forms and quality it is possible to produce faceted gemstones which are brilliant but are still very delicate.
Garnet - the word Garnet covers a group of at least 10 different silicate gemstones which are Garnets. These range in colour from various shades to reds and greens to intense yellow, fiery orange to almost black, there is also a blue garnet discovered in the 1990s. This blue garnet is a colour change garnet which changes from blue green in daylight to purple in artificial light. There are a number of other variety of other colour change garnets with this ability.
The red garnets are Pyrope, a fiery red garnet, Almandine, Rhodolite a velvety red.
Spessarites are brillant orange to red and mainly come from Nigeria and Angola and are marketed as Mandarine Garnets.
In the green garnets there is grossularite which comes in lovely tones of green, yellow and brown.
The next green garnet Tsavorite which was found in Tanzania and is from the grossularite group and is possibly the best known green Garnet. The colours range from vivid light to deep green with good brilliance.
The rarest green Garnet is the demantiod garnet from Russia which is considered to be a stunning rare gemstone. Until recently almost only found in Russia but now there have been some new finds in Namibia.
Garnet is the birthstone for January.
Goldstone - Is usually mistaken or misrepresented as a natural gemstone but it is neither a stone or gold but in fact is manmade glass. It is believed to have been discovered in the 17th century by the Miotti family in Venice although it is also said to have been discovered by Monks and is sometimes called Monkstone. It is glass made with copper or copper salts with is heated in a reducing flame and when it is cooled the cooper salts form crystals which are the sparkling gold in the glass. Apart from the reddish brown colour you can also get green and blue goldstone.
Kyanite - This is an aluminium mineral which is usually a blue translucent stone with a pearl or silky look although it has been found colourless and green banded with blue. It often has inclusions and streaks of white but gem quality Kyanite is found which is transparent clear vibrant blue which is faceted into beautiful gems but are quite brittle.
Found in Kenya, Switzerland, France, Italy USA and India.
Kyanite is said to be a calming stone. It helps calm the mind letting go of anxiety and dissolving emotional, mental or spiritual confusion.
Labradorite - is a fairly abundant greyish/greenish mineral felspar that has brilliant flashes of colours usually green, blue or red called labradorescence, the crystals are transparent to translucent. Labradorite is usually cut with a flat surface in order to highlight the shimmering flashes of color. Labradorite was originally found along the coast of Labrador about 1770; it is also found in Newfoundland, other parts of Canada, Ukraine, Russia, and the USA.
Lapis Lazuli - A beautiful blue gemstone that has been used for jewellery and carvings from early times. Lapis is not a mineral but a rock comprising an association of minerals, lazurite, calcite, pyrites (fools gold) and sometimes sodalite. The best lapis comes from Afghanistan where it has been mined for thousands of years. It is also found in Chile, Russia, Siberia, India and Angola.
It is regarded as the stone of friendship and truth . It is said to encourage harmonious relations and help it’s wearer to be honest and give his opinion freely.
Malachite - Is copper carbonate and is found where ever there are copper ore outcrops. Malachite gets its lovely green colour from the copper. It is usually found with layered bands of darker and lighter green. Large quantities come from Russia, Africa, Israel, USA, Chile and Australia.
Moonstone - is the most valuable variety of the felspar family. It is a soft milky stone with a silvery, bluish or rainbow sheen or iridescence, which in Moonstone is called "adularescence". Moonstone ranges from transparent to translucent. They come in colours of pale blue, peach, white, grey, orange, green or brown.
The Romans used moonstones for jewellery and believed it was made by the light of the moon, hence its name. The used moonstones in ceremonies to honour Diana the moon goddess. They believed that whoever possessed a moonstone would receive blessings of love, wealth, wisdom and victory.
Moonstone has been a sacred stone in India from ancient times. It is believed that wearing moonstone enhances passion and makes you receptive to romantic intentions. They are regarded as ‘dream stones’ which bring the wearer beautiful visions at night. In Arabic countries women still sew a moonstone into their garments a symbol of fertility.
In folk lore it was believed that if you place a moonstone under your tongue when the moon is full you will see your future.
Moonstones are found throughout the world with the finest stones coming from Sri Lanka and southern India but they also found in Brazil, Germany, Mexico, USA and Tanzania.
Nephrite Jade - Is called Pounamu or Greenstone in New Zealand and is one of two minerals species of Jade, the other being Jadeite Jade. It has been used for thousands of years for jewellery, utilitarian ceremonial use in China, New Zealand and South East Asia and has been found to have been used in Neolithic Europe. It comes in colours of green, grey, and occasionally almost black, yellow, brown and white.
It is found in Russia, New Zealand, Australia and Canada.
Peridot - or "the emeralds of the night" as the Romans called them is an iron magnesium silicate and is the gem variety of the mineral Olivine which is one of the most abundant minerals in the earth’s crust and is volcanic in origin. Peridot’s are a beautiful yellow green to green yellow and are sometimes confused with emeralds particularly as they may appear darker at night.
They are a very ancient gemstone, the Egyptians used them for jewellery more than 4000 yeas ago having mined then on a small island in the Red Sea. The early Hawaiians called the Peridot "the tears of Pele their Goddess of Fire.
Peridot is said to drive away evil spirits and this is intensified if it is set in gold. It is one of the birthstones for August and the sign of Leo.
It is found in the USA, Burma, China, Sri Lanka but the most spectacular and beautiful stones come from the Pakistan Afghan border area in Kashmir.
Peruvian Opal - A lovely gemstone from high in the Andes in Peru. It is found in three main colours, blue, green and pink. Peruvian opal doesn’t display the spectral fire or "play of colour" found in opal from Australia or Mexico.Pink Peruvian Opal is said to be the stone of love and gentleness. It also is said to bring inspiration, imagination and creativity and helps release inhibitions.
Prehnite - Is a rare gemstone discovered in the 18th Century in South Africa by Colonel Hendrick Von Prehn after who it was named. It is a translucent to transparent stone and comes in colours of pale green to green and sometimes in yellow, white and clear. Good clean transparent stones are faceted for jewellery while others are made into cabochons or beads.
It is found in South Africa, Europe, USA and in Australia in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Rhodochrosite - is a beautiful pink to rose red gemstone which is manganese carbonate. It is a translucent mineral but is also found in fabulous blood red crystals which are transparent to translucent.
It is a fairly soft stone so is not often faceted but cut into carbochons or made into beads.
It is considered to be the stone of love and is believed to increase confidence and balance the emotions.
Rhodochrosite is found in Peru where the Incas thought it was the blood of their King and Queens turned into stone. In Argentina it is found in old mines as stalagmites and stalactites. It is also found in Romania, USA, South Africa and Canada.
Rose Quartz - is a member of the quartz family of silicon dioxide. It is pale pink to rose red in colour which is the result of iron and titanium impurities. It is rarely found in crystal form where it can be faceted but is usually made into cabochons, beads or carved.It is found in Brazil as well as Madagascar, India and the USA.
It is said to be the love stone.
Ruby Zoisite - this stone is sometimes called Ruby in Zoisite. It is an ornamental stone consisting of green Zoisite with pink/ red splashes of Ruby throughout it as well as dark black patches of hornblende. With the differences in hardness between the Zoisite, which is soft and Ruby which is very hard it is difficult material to be worked. Most Ruby Zoisite is used in the jewellery business for pendants or beads although it is also carved.
Rutilated Quartz - This is a clear or white stone with hair like rutiles in it which are Titanium Dioxide and are reddish brown, in some cases the rutiles are black with is Tourmaline. Found in Brazil, Africa Australia, Norway and Pakistan.
Said to bring forth a persons strengths, relations with others and is believed to relieve loneliness and depression.
Smokey Quartz - is another quartz variety which is usually smokey yellow brown to grey brown. It is silicon dioxide with a small amount of ferric oxide which gives it it’s colour.
Snowflake Obsidian - this is volcanic glass which is usually dark green to black in colour with white impurities of cristobalite distributed in it which gives a snowflake pattern.
Sodalite - A royal blue mineral with white or yellow streaks which is used as an ornamental stone and in jewellery is used for cabochons, beads and carvings. It is a light material and whist it is hard it is also fragile due to its poor cleavage. It is a Sodium Aluminium Chlorine Silicate and is almost identical to Lapis Lazuli but Lapis contains sulphur instead of chlorine. It is a common part of Lapis.
Found Canada, USA, Brazil, Bolivia, Burma, Portugal, Russia and Romania.
Tigers Eye - is a gemstone which is usually yellow brown to red brown with a silky lustre. There are also two other varieties which with a greenish grey background called Cats Eye and with a blue background with is called Hawks Eye. It is a member of the quartz group of Chalcedonies.
Tigers Eye mainly comes from South Africa.
Tourmaline - A very versatile and beautiful gemstone which comes in a huge variety of colours and is referred to as "the gemstone of the rainbow". The name Tourmaline comes from the singalese "tura mali" which means stone of mixed colours.
Tourmalines colours are those of the rainbow and more, the principle colours are red, pink, green, yellow, brown, black, and blue, some tourmalines change colour in artificial light.
Different coloured Tourmalines are sometimes known by other names, strong red Tourmaline are called Rubellite and strong intense blue or blue/green tourmaline from Brazil are called Paraiha after the state where they were found. Tourmalines can also have more than one colour in the stone, they can be bicoloured tourmaline, having two colours or multi coloured tourmalines having more than two colours. Watermelon tourmalines have red in the centre with green around it and a tourmaline with an almost colourless centre with black at both ends is called Mohrenkoft after a German cake.
It is said that Tourmalines are the gemstone of firm love and long lasting friendship.
Tourmalines are found around the world but the principle sources are Brazil, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Tanzania. Malawa, Kenya, Mozambique and Madagasgar.
Turquoise - Is an opaque blue to green mineral which is a copper aluminium phosphate. The blue colour is caused by copper and the more green colour is the result of iron and a little chrome in some cases. Turquoise has been used for jewellery and an ornamental stone for the last 6000 years at least and has been found in tombs in Egypt dating to the first dynasty. It was also known in South, Central and North America and is still mined in Nevada and other states in the US.It is a relatively soft stone and is a cryptocrystalline mineral which means that the crystals that make up the Turquoise are too small to be seen with the naked eye. Natural Turquoise in some cases is oiled or waxed to enhance its colour and protect it due to its porosity. Other treatments are stabilisation where a resin or water glass is impregnated into the Turquoise under pressure to stabilise it, this is used when the oil or wax treatment wouldn’t provide sufficient protection.
Another treatment is reconstituted Turquoise where turquoise is ground to powder and then mixed with a binder to produce a solid mass of Turquoise.
Imitations of Turquoise abound, the most common one is dyed Howlite and Magnesite, both are white minerals in their natural state. Howlite has the black veining that natural Turquoise has, so once dyed looks like Turquoise.
Found in USA, Mexico, Israel, Iran, Afghanistan and China.
 |