green tourmaline. It is worn in necklaces, earrings, pendants and bracelets.
Like other gems, peridot was believed to offer special powers.
Peridot is the best known gem variety of olivine, a species name for a
series of magnesium-iron rich silicate minerals. This bright yellow-green to
green gemstone has caught the fancy of humans for thousands of years. Some
historians even suspect that at least some of the "emeralds" worn by
Cleopatra were actually peridot. Much of its recent popularity can be
explained by its currently being recognized as the birthstone for the month
of August, people wear the stone because it is supposed to bring the wearer
success, peace, and good luck.
Peridot is the birthstone of August.
Varieties - Peridot top grades: medium to dark, slightly yellowish-green.
Chrysolite - greenish-yellow, light to dark yellowish-green to
brownish-green to almost brown.
Sources - Sri Lanka, Island of Zeberget (Egypt), Burma, USA, Mexico.
History - The ancients called it the "gem of the sun." They attributed to it
the power to dispel enchantment and evil spirits due to its association with
the sun (which drives away darkness). In order to be worn as a talisman, it
had to be set in gold. The Red Sea island of Zeberget, off the southern tip
of Egypt, was worked for this stone as early as 1500 B.C. At that time, the
island was known as "The Island of Serpents," because it was infested with
poisonous snakes. Later, the reigning Egyptian king had the snakes destroyed
to facilitate prospecting for peridot. Prospecting was done at night because
the gem could not be seen in sunlight. The workers would mark the spots and
return the next day to dig them out.
Cut and Uses - Usually faceted. Step-cut is best; oval, round and pendeloque
cuts are common. Very suitable for brooches, pendants, earrings, but not for
rings or bracelets because it abrades easily.
Throughout time, Peridot has been confused with many other gemstones, even
emerald. Many "emeralds" of royal treasures have turned out to be peridots!
And although peridot is distinctly a different shade of green, many jewelers
refer to peridot as "evening emerald". Emerald is a dark green as opposed to
a yellow green and always contains inclusions. Other green gemstones
confused with peridot include apatite (which is much softer); green garnets
(have no double refraction), green tourmaline and green sinhalite (both of
which are strongly pleochroic), moldavites (no double refraction) and green
zircon (significantly heavier). All of these gemstones rarely have as nice a
yellow component to their green color as does most peridot, but darker green
peridot can be confusing when good crystal form is not discernible.
Peridot is an ancient and yet currently very popular gemstone. It is so old
that it can be found even in Egyptian jewellery from the early second
millennium BC. The stones used in those days came from an occurrence on a
little volcanic island in the Red Sea. Peridot, however, is also a very
modern stone, for only a few years ago Peridot occurrences were discovered
in the Kashmir region and Sri Lanka, and the stones from there show a unique
beauty of color and transparency, so that the image of the stone, which was
somewhat dulled over the ages, has received an efficient polishing.
The most beautiful stones come from Sri Lanka and the Pakistan-Afghanistan
border region. Peridot as gemstone does also exist in Myanmar, China, the
USA, Africa and Australia. Stones from East Burma, today's Myanmar, show a
vivid green with fine silky inclusions. Peridot from the American state of
Arizona, where it is quite popular in Native Indian jewellery, often shows a
yellowish to golden brown shade
Peridot is a gain for the green gemstone' colour palette. There is trend to
use it not only as individual stone, but also in jewellery series. And since
the world of fashion has just discovered a preference for the colour green,
the popularity of this deep green gemstone has increased accordingly.
Peridot is a beautiful gemstone in its own right and is widely popular. Its
popularity is said to be increasing yearly and with new finds in Pakistan
producing exceptionally well crystallized specimens, peridot can be fun to
collect for years to come.
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