Gemstone Mondays: Labradorite

Labradorite is a gemstone in the feldspar family. It is known for a brilliant play of color and exhibits lustrous metallic tints of blue, green, yellow, red, gold, and purple.This is such a unique Gemstone and not many realize the beauty of it.

 Primary labradorite sources include Canada (Labrador, Newfoundland), Australia (New South Wales), Madagascar, Mexico, Russia, and the United States.

Gemstone Mondays: Rutilated Quartz

Red Rutiles

Rutilated Quartz is a Mineral and is recognized by the characteristic rutile crystal inclusions passing through the quartz.   Rutile is a major ore of titanium, which is a metal used for high tech alloys. This is what forms the needle-like crystal inclusions inside quartz. They form in a variety of colors: Gold, Red and Black, that I know of.

Gold Rutiles

Black Rutiles

Rutilated quartz is found in Australia, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Norway, Pakistan and the United States.

It is sold with a facet cut or free form cabochon.  It's beautiful in jewelry.  I personally have two pieces of jewelry with this natural phenomenon and a few loose stones. Absolutely amazing Gemstone. 

 

Gemstone Mondays: Tanzanite

(sorry for the delay)

   Tanzanite is considered to be a variety of Zoisite (which is a very interesting mineral, that I will talk about at a later date) and it comes in natural shades of blue, pink, yellow, green, brown, and khaki. Even though it is beautiful in its natural state it is usually heat treated to produce the highly desired shades of sapphire blue, amethyst, and blue violet.

The Tanzanite version of Zoisite was discovered in Tanzania, Africa in the late 1960s and is the main source for this gemstone. Nestled at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro in the Merelani foothills of Northern Tanzania. It was originally thought to be comprised of sapphire crystals, but this was later determined not to be the case. The mining of this Gemstone is controlled by a company named, Tanzanite One Ltd.  They also control who they  allow to distribute the stone.

Tanzanite is believed to surpass the Diamond in value, eventually.  I personally have several pieces of jewelry with Tanzanite and many loose faceted stones.  The deeper blue violet color in Tanzanite, the higher the value of the stone.  Make an investment in this gemstone.  I guarantee it will be extremely valuable.  It has already gone up in value substantially. 

Colors of Sapphires

Gemstone Monday's

Sapphire is a gemstone in the corundum family. Known for its beautiful "cornflower blue" color, sapphire also comes in a wide range of colors. In fact, corundum comes in every color of the rainbow, and they are all sapphire--except red, which is ruby. It has a strong luster like diamonds, and sources include Australia, Burma (Myanmar), Sri Lanka, Thailand, Montana, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, and the United States (Montana). 

There is a very coooool place in Montana called: 

Gem Mountain Sapphire Mine

You will find lots of rough Montana Sapphires.  Yes YOU find them.  Or if you can't get to Montana, you can order "Gravel Bags" that are guaranteed to contain something; Lots of something.  

I have personally searched a Gravel Bucket and have found lots of Sapphires and Garnets.  Now these will not be faceted or shiny.  It is the Rough material.  My parents actually went there and my mom had one that she found faceted and put into a ring.  Check it out !! 

Fire Opal

Gemstone Mondays!!

Fire Opal is an unusual variety of opal from transparent to translucent, and rarely displays play-of-color. Reddish material is commonly called cherry opal. Notable sources include Brazil, Guatemala, and Mexico. This is one of my favorite gemstones.  It is so unique and vibrant.

 

Pretty in Earrings

Fire Opal still in the Matrix

Variety of Color

Rubies

Gemstone Mondays!!

I am an avid Gemstone & Mineral collector.  Have been since I was about 10 years old.  I thought it would be nice to have a weekly talk about the variety of Gemstones and Minerals we have in the world.  I will post about one every Monday.  Let me know what you think.  Is this something you would like to see?

Rubies are a red variety of the mineral family corundum. It gets its color from trace chromium.

Throughout gem history, the Ruby has been considered one of the most valuable gemstones because it has everything a precious stone should have – glorious color, excellent hardness and outstanding brilliance.  It exhibits a range of red colors, and the most desired color is "pigeon's blood" red (pure red with just a hint of blue).

Rubies come from countries such as: Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Kenya, Madagascar, and Vietnam.