January Birthstone

What is the Birthstone for January?

Giving a piece of jewelry containing a birthstone gem will bring the wearer with good luck and protection. Monthly birthstones symbolize the month of birth according to the Gregorian Calendar. What is the Birth stone for January? The following old poem provides the answer! And this page provides some information about the meaning of the January gem stone, the color, symbolism and significance of this lovely birth stone:

January Birthstone poem - the Garnet"By her who is this month was born
No gem save garnets shall be worn
They will ensure her constancy
True friendship and fidelity."

January Birthstone - Properties of the GarnetFor those who were born in the month of January the garnet is the traditional birthstone. The January birthstone poem reflects some of the properties with which the garnet is associated - purity, truth, faithfulness and friendship. The Traditional Metaphysical Properties for the January Birthstone Garnet are  awareness, commitment, regeneration, insight and removing negativity. The healing properties of the January birthstone are reputed to be effective for health problems relating to the blood, heart, lungs and infection. The garnet is also used to enhance sensuality and sexuality.

January Birthstone Zodiac SignThe twelve Zodiac signs are an astrological version of birthstones in addition to the twelve calendar months. The January birthstone of the garnet is considered to be the birthstone for Capricorn (The sign of the Goat) and relate to those born between December 22 - January 21. The Zodiac sign of Capricorn also responds to Onyx, Ruby, Turquoise, Blue Topaz and Lapis Lazuli.

January Birthstone - Where are Garnets found? The popular January Birthstone of the Garnet is found in the following countries:

• Sri Lanka, Malaya, India, Africa, Uruguay, U.S. and Brazil

January Birthstone - the Color of the GarnetThe traditional color associated with the garnet is the deep red color and was strongly favored as a popular gem in Victorian jewelry. The meaning of colors through the ages represented many aspects of life. Social, religious, biblical and Christian symbolism were all reflected in the color Red! The symbolic meaning of the color red was was of fire and was associated with power and importance. The January birthstone is not just confined to the deep red color, garnets can be found in nearly all other colors including orange, yellow, green, purple, brown, black, and colorless. Some details about the January Birthstone garnet colors are as follows:

Type of Garnet	Color Details of garnet stones
Andradite	Colors include the green Demantoid with chromium and iron as the green colorants, the yellow Topazolite with manganese yellow/orange colorants and black Melanite
Ugrandite	Colors include the green Tsavorite with vanadium as the green colorant, Hessonite with manganese as the orange/yellow colorant.
Rhodolite	Color: Rose-red, raspberry to violet from a combination of pyrope and almandine with iron as the purple colorant
Spessartite	Color: Orange, red to brown from manganese orange colorants
Almandite	Color: Deep red with brown undertone.
Pyrope	Color: Intense deep red from iron colorants

• Red Color Garnets - Different red colors include a bright pink garnet called rhodolite, a bright red garnet called anthill and an orange Malayan garnet. The Almandine garnet are red color varieties, with pyrope (also called Bohemian garnet) which is associated with Victorian jewelry
• Brilliant green color garnets are called demantoid garnets which are extremely rare and quite valuable.

Definition of the Garnet, the January BirthstoneDefinition of Garnet, the January birth stone: The word garnet is derived from the Greek word "granatum" which means "pomegranate seed" which reflect the shape and color of the crystals. Garnets are a group of hard glassy minerals (silicates of various metals) used as gemstones and as an abrasive. Pure crystals of garnet are used as gemstones. The garnet family contain 7 major types: almandine, andradite, demantoid, grossularite, pyrope, spessartite, uvarovite stones. Crystal structure of the garnet, the January birthstone Isometric, rhombic, dodecahedron.

January Birth stone - the History of the GarnetFor those who were born in the month of January the garnet is the traditional birthstone. The history, myths, legends and folklore surrounding the magical properties of different birthstones have been handed down through the ages and from different civilisations. This subject has been documented separately in the History of Birthstones section which can be accessed by the link at the top of the page.

January - Birth Stone - Gemstone - Birthday - Zodiac - Sign - Date - Month - Gemstone - Gem - Chart - Color - Facts - Information Guide - Zodiac - History - Symbolism - Significance - Birth - Stone - January

Birthstones & Jewelry InsuranceYour home insurance policy may not fully cover you for birthstone jewelry insurance, engagement ring insurance or wedding ring insurance. Your home insurance policy probably covers jewelry theft, but not loss that occurs for other reasons. A typical home insurance policy will only usually pay a maximum of $1,000 for jewelry theft. Obtain a Jewelry Insurance quote from the Chubb group of jewelry insurance.

January Birthstone

January Birthstone

• What is the birthstone for January?
• Color meaning, symbolism and significance of the January birth stone
• January Birthstone - Properties of the Garnet
• Definition of the Garnet, the January Birthstone
• January Birth stone Zodiac Sign
• January Birth stone - Where are Garnets found?
• Colors - Information about the color of the January birthstone
• January Birth stone poem

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Lapis Lazuli

Lapis Lazuli (also called lapis) is a beautiful blue microcrystalline gemstone composed primarily of lazurite (25%-40%), other minerals include alumunium, sodium, oxygen, silicon, sulfur, chloride and pyrite. Because lapis lazuli is composed of so many minerals, it is called a rock rather than a mineral. Most lapis lazuli are also contains sodalite (blue), calcite (white), and pyrite (metallic yellow). Other possible constituents are augite, diopside, mica, enstatite, hornblende, hauynite and nosean. Some also contain trace amount of the sulfur rich lollingite variety geyerite. Patches of pyrite in the gems are an important help in identifying the stone as genuine and do not detract from its value. Lapis lazuli occurs usually in crystalline marble as a result of contact metamorphism.

Lapis Lazuli Color

The color of top quality stones is evenly distributed, but in general the color is spotted. Other than lazurite, the composition of the minerals influence the color as well. Too much of the same mineral gives a dull, greenish tint. Well-distributed fine pyrite highlights the color of the gem with a brassy gold shimmer. Most collectors and admirers of fine lapis lazuli agree that the less calcite the rock contained, the better it will be. Calcite can be seen as patches or streaks within the darker blue, it can also predominate in the mix giving the color of the rock an overall lighter blue shade. The blue color of the gem comes from the sulphur content and may range from pure ultramarine to a lighter blue. The finest color is intense blue, and lightly dusted with small flecks of golden pyrite.

Lapis Lazuli Gemstone Treatments

People who carve lapis lazuli have to use protective gear in order to avoid silica deposits in the lungs. An experienced cutter can even tell how intense the color of the stone just from smelling the odour. Lapis Lazuli is often dyed or light heating to improve its colour and the stone has been imitated by dyed jasper and by paste with inclusions of copper. A lapis lazuli can easily be repolished at any time even if the gem has been worn too much and grown matt. Lapis lazuli is often sealed with synthetic resin or colourless wax. This sealing process has the effect of improving the stone's wearing qualities (as long as the substances are not mixed with any colouring agent). An inferior lapis is mostly dyed to improve its color, producing a dark blue with a noticeable grey cast whch may also appear as a milky shade.

The stone should not be exposed to too much sunlight and should always be protected from acidic substances. When you drop a hydrochloric acid on the rock, there will be a reaction that results in a rotten egg smell. Since Lapis Lazuli gemstones are soft, they can be easily chipped or scratched and their protective coating can be dissolved by water. Lapis lazuli is somewhat porous, the gems should be protected from solvents or chemicals. One of the best way to clean lapis lazuli is using warm soapy water

These relatively rare gems are also being associated with royalty. Lapis is mostly made into beads of necklace or carved pendants and has been used for more than 6000 years. The name lapis lazuli is derived from the Latin “lapis” meaning “stone” and from the Persian word “lazhward” meaning “blue rock”. This gemstone was called ultramarinum (means beyond the sea) when first introduced to Europe. Lapis Lazuli can be found in Argentina, Afganistan, Canada, United States, Siberia, Pakistan and Chile.

Fake Lapis Lazuli

Since the gem is so popular, there are number of lapis lazuli imitations like German lapis or Swiss lapis, which is a type of jasper stained blue by tthe action of potassium ferro cyanide and ferrous sulphate. Other common imitations are synthetic sintered spinel which produced in Germany, paste (or glass) with spangles of copper crystall inclusions, sodalite and blue dyed chalcedony. Blue lapis imitations were colored with copper sulfate in ancient Egypt to achieve the special deep blue color.

It is believed lapis lazuli have special properties:

• Believed by Romans as a powerful aphrodisiac.
• To increase courage and develop fearlessness.
• To boost up the wearer’s confidence.
• Healing physical problems originating in the head, such as headaches, sinus ailments and speech problems.
Astrologically, lapis lazuli are associated with the zodiac signs of Sagittarius.

Mohs scale hardness: 5-5.5

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Jade Stone

Jade is the stone valued for its beauty and utility. It is the mystical birthstones for March and the suggested gems for 35th wedding anniversary. The cult of jade stone goes back to Neolithic times in China, when the vers

atile stone was fashioned into tools and weapons, as well as symbolic objects for ritual. Eventually it came to be known as the “Stone of Heaven” and formed the bedrock of Chinese culture. China’s religion, ceremonies, philosophy and art are all closely bound with jade stone.

Confucius wrote that jade held all the most excellent qualities that men should aspire to. Yu, the Chinese word for jade stone, took on a larger meaning and was used to describe greatness and beauty. A beautiful woman was known as a “jade woman” and the highest Taoist divinity was referred to as the “Jade Emperor”.

Difference Between Jadeite and Nephrite

Jade stone comes in two distinct varieties that are actually two different minerals: nephrite and jadeite. Both types of jade are extremely hard, tougher than granite and more difficult to carve than solid steel. Jadeite is about the same hardness as quartz, although jadeite is slightly harder than nephrite, fractures more easily. The variety known as nephrite is a silicate of calcium and magnesium, while jadeite is a silicate of sodium and alumunium. Other impurities which may contained in jadeites are calcium, potassium, chromium, magnesium, titanium, manganese and water. Under a microscope, nephrite appears as tightly interwoven tufts of filament-like fibers. Jadeite shows a more crystalline structure.

Jade is the toughest gemstone in nature, although nephrite and jadeite (the jades) are relatively easy to scratch and much softer than diamond but its resistance to chipping is extremely high. Diamond is the hardest gemstone in nature but it can be broken by a hard blow.

Nephrite was the only type of jade used in ancient China, most of which was obtained from the Kunlun Mountains. While small deposits of jadeite exist in scattered parts of the globe, upper Myanmar is the only place in the world with a large and consistent supply of gem-quality jadeite. The Manchu emperor Chi’en-lung quickly developed a passion for the vivid green Imperial Jade stone for which Myanmar is justly famous, and jadeite soon surpassed nephrite as the favored gem of China. Both nephrite and jadeite jades are white when pure.

What is Imperial Jade?

Jade stone comes in a huge range of color and patterns. White jade stone is usually nephrite. Blue-green, mauve, orange-red or lavender colors are always jadeite, and are the rarer and more valuable of the jade types. Imperial jade refers to a translucent, deep emerald green jadeite and it is considered as the most valuable type of jade.

The intense green color of the imperial jade is due to a small amount of chromium, while the presence of iron (Fe) gives the stone a paler green, blue-green, bluish black, or blue-black. The darkest color contains a relatively high amount of iron oxide. The mauve color in jadeite is relaeted to the presence of manganese. For those jade lovers as well as collectors, do becareful when purchasing jade stones as many unscrupulous gem dealers sometimes like to dye white jade to the color of imperial jade and sell it for higher prices. Although jade is currently one of the most beautiful and affordable gemstone, unfortunately it is also one of the most commonly imitated.

It is believed jade stone have special properties:

• Curing ailments of the loins and kidneys.
• To increase body strength and add longevity.
• Used as a good luck stone and to attract good fortunes.
• To eases eyestrain.
• To offer protection and harmony.
• Chinese believe if the jade you wear breaks into pieces, it means you will or are in deep trouble. (i think is probably true, since jade is the strongest gemstone so how come it breaks easily, unless it is a fake jade, maybe you get some kind of warning).

Astrologically, jade stone is associated with the zodiac sign of Virgo.

Mohs scale hardness: Nephrite 6-6.5, Jadeite 6.5-7.

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Garnet

Those born in the month of January then garnet is the birthstone for you and garnet is also the traditional anniversary gemstone for the second year of marriage. All garnet contains keizelzuur. The chemistry composition of garnets is as com

plex as tourmaline. Garnets are relatively hard and highly reflective, though some varieties of garnet are more brittle than others.

The formation of garnets always takes place in metamorphic rock. The metamorphic rock is either an igneous or sedimentary rock which has been metamorphosized or changed by some force. The most common forces are pressure, heat or some combination of both. Conditions might form garnets inside the metamorphic stones as the rocks change. As the result, the stone is commonly found in stones like gneiss and schist. All garnets crystallize in the isometric crystal system (means that equality in dimension, such as a cube, octahedron or dedocahedron).

Colors of Garnet

Garnets occur in all colors but blue and usually garnets have bright colors. Many people including experts often mistaken garnet as ruby as both color looked alike and in fact they are completely different. The colors of garnet includes red, purple, brown, green, blue, orange, yellow, colorless and even black.

Blue garnet (rarest color) is said once discovered in Bekily (Madagascar) in the late 1990s. It changes color from bluish green in the daylight to purple color in incandescent light, as a result of relatively high amuonts of vanadium (about 1 wt.% V2O3). There are also other varieties of color-changing garnets. In daylight, the color ranges from shades of blue, gray, brown, beige and green, but in incandescent light the color appear to be purplish/pink or reddish color. Because of the color changing quality of the stones, these kind of garnets are often mistaken for alexandrite. The light transmission properties of garnet can range from the gemstone-quality transparen specimens to the opaque varieties used for industrial purposes. Garnet mineral’s luster is categorized as resinous (amber-like) or vitreous (glass-like).

Those with classic “horsetail” inclusions are some of the most sought-after gemstones. These inclusions are small needle-like marks inside the gemstone.

Tsavorite is a vivid green grossular garnet. Red garnets come in several different shades, including a blackish-red, known as pyrope garnet, and a brownish-red called almandine. The most desireable of the red shades is that of rhodolite garnet, a vibrant, cranberry color with an affordability that belies its beauty and brilliance. The term “rhodolite” was first used in 1898, and came from the similarity of the garnet’s color to the rhododendron flower. Superior garnets are usually faceted, while the less valuable ones are often polished into beads.

All garnets are a variation on silica. Magnesium, iron, calcium, chromium and aluminum are present in various chemical compositons in the group of garnets. Garnets are found in Scotland, Switzerland, Tanzania, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Myanmar (Burma) and United States (Arizona). Rock formations that are metamorphic or igneous are where these garnets form with alluvial deposits producing the highest quality gems as a rule.

Types of Garnets

There are six main garnet types used for gemstones: andradite, almandine, grossularite, pyrope, spessartine and uvarovite.

Almandine garnets are the most frequently and common used gemstone.

Andradite, this highly sought after garnet comes in three gem quality types: melanite, demantoid and topazolite. Demantoid, the most valuable of the garnets is rare. The demantoid rivals the diamond in its brilliance. Its green color is due to the chromium content. Carl Fabergé, the famed Russian jeweler used dematoids in many of his pieces.

Topazolite is seldom made into jewelry as it is rarely large enough to make faceting worthwhile. Melanite is no longer used in gemstone, although it was once used in mourning jewelry.

Glossular garnet is colorless when pure. They come in every color but blue, and red coloration also rarely occur in this variety.

Pyrope garnets, dark red in color and often free of inclusions. They are rarely cut into faceted peices of more than one carat in size.

Spessartine, a less well known and uncommon garnet, very few of this stone is in the type of quality to use as a gem althought cabochons may be cut from it.

Uvarovite is the rarest of the garnet family. Since it occurs only as small crystals, it is seldom used as a gem.

Perhaps because of the stone’s blood-red color, garnets have long been associated with heroes or warriors, both as protective and destructive elements. The crusaders used to decorated their armor with garnets as talismans to prevent harm. In latter-day Asia, garnets were sometimes used for bullets, in the belief that they would increase the severity of a wound.

Garnet Metaphysical Properties

It is believed garnets have special properties:

• Give peace in your mind.
• Enhance your cleverness.
• Increase the feeling of proudness and hearty sense.
• To warn the wearer of the incoming dangers (usually the color of the stone suddenly changes).
• To protect you from harms.
• To enhance the sense of justice, honesty and sympathy.
• To make people sympathetic towards you.
• Helping people to become tough and can endure hardships.
• To oppose black magic and negative energy.

To clean garnets you can use warm soapy water and a soft brush, a sonic cleaner can be used for most garnets except for Andradite (Demantoid) garnets because they are softer than other garnets. Do not use a steamer.

Though garnets are a naturally occurring gemstone, in the 1970s scientists discovered a process for synthesizing garnets. Synthesized garnets can be found in an even larger variety of colors than the natural ones, including blue and color-changing varieties.

Asian origins: Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
Astrologically, garnet is associated with the zodiac sign of Aquarius.
January birth flower: Carnation.

Mohs scale hardness: 6-7.5

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Emeralds

Emeralds are one of the most beloved of gems, with a colorful and long history, earning it the rank of “precious” stone, along with diamond, ruby and sapphire. Emeralds belong to the beryl mineral family and the only gemstone besides topaz that is listed as in all of the ancient birthstone table. Emerald is the most valuable type of beryl and It is one of the most favored green gemstone. The gem is the traditional gift for the 55th wedding anniversary, it is also used as a 20th and 35th wedding anniversary stone. True pure beryl has no color, traces of chromium and vanadium give emerald its green color. Other beryl minerals include pale blue aquamarine, pink morganite, golden helidor and pale green beryl. Technically, light green beryl material cannot carry the title emerald, the color of true emeralds have been described as the rich, translucent green of new grass glistening after a rain.

Emerald Cut

Emeralds are considered one of the most difficult gemstones to cut. While they are extremely hard, harder than steel, they are also brittle and can easily crack or chip if not handled properly. Emeralds are also riddled with inclusions or microscopic impurities. It takes an expert eye to determine how the rough emeralds should be oriented to maximize the beauty of their final appearance. They are most often fashioned in a rectangular step-cut, which suits the natural shape of the emerald crystal. This style is now known as the “emerald cut”. Rather than bring out the sparkle of a stone, as in the case of the round “brilliant cut,” focuses on the depth of the crystal, allowing you to appreciate the gem’s color.

Emerald Characteristics and Treatments

Emeralds are also strong enough to withstand heat and they do not change color easily. Emeralds characteristically have many tiny fissures and fractures as well as inclusions in their crystals. To improve the appearance of heavily-included gems, and to prevent them from cracking further, the practice of oiling emeralds developed. All sorts of oils are used, from mineral oil to special secret formulas created over several generations. They should never be immersed in an ultrasonic (this process can remove coating) or subjected to steam cleaning. A complete flawless of emerald has never yet been found! These inclusions can act like a fingerprint, giving each emerald a distinct personality. Another effective method used to get rid of certain flaws in emerald gems is by irradiation. Emerald is found in mica schists between pegmatites or granitic rocks. Sometimes alluvial and eluvial deposits also hold this gem. During the crystallization process, some geological disturbances always takes place, that is why all emeralds are found with inclusions such as cracks, bubbles, carbon fleck or foreign crystals inside.
In India, emeralds were also considered antidotes to poison. The restfulness of the emerald hue was believed to have restorative power for eyesight. To further boost magical properties, words from holy scriptures were sometimes carved onto the face of large emerald crystals.It is believed Emeralds have special properties:

• Brings luck and success.
• Increase wearer's ability in speech and diplomacy.
• Enlarge the power of the wearer.
• To give warning to the wearer of incoming dangers, usually the color becomes pale.
• To enhance the clairvoyance of their wearers.
• Reject evil thoughts in order to stay clean especially females, and if the gem you wear suddenly falls down then this will be a bad omen.

Always do your purchase of true emerald from a reliable dealers as the market is flooded with imitations, simulators and synthetic gems. Sometimes clever dealers like to take two pale green colored stones and join them with bright green glue and irradiate with green dye. These nothing but fake stones are sold with high price under the misleading names such as Chatham Emerald, Biron Emerald, Kimberly Emerald, Gilson Emerald, Lennix Emerald, Regency Emerald, Linde Emerald, Zerfass Emerald etc. Other precious stones that often been used to mimic emerald and sold at the price of genuine emerald are peridot, tourmaline, chrome diopside, zircon, hiddenite and green garnet.Asian origin: India.
Astrologically, emerald is associated with the zodiac signs of Taurus and Cancer.
May birth flower: Lily of the Valley.

Mohs scale hardness: 7.5-8

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Diamonds

Diamonds (means "unbreakable" in Greek) are crystallized carbon created under extreme heat and pressure, carbon in its most concentrated form. Diamonds are the hardest substance in nature and the only gemstone composed of a single element. Diamonds are not only hardest gemstone but also the farest light reflected among the gems. Even though diamond is only one level higher on the Moh's scale than corundum, diamond can be anywhere from ten to hundreds of times harder than this class of gems. It is the molecular structure that makes diamonds so hard (carbon atoms linked together in a lattice structure). These transparent crystals are also notable for its high dispersion index and high thermal conductivity. It has been associated with purity and fearlessness since ancient times and, more recently, with love.

Where Do Diamonds Come From

Diamonds formed deep within the earth’s crust (90 miles or about 150 km down) and reach the surface via volcanoes, when magma from far below the surface begins coming up. Once this magma cools, a rock known as kimberlite is formed (the rock which mostly diamonds are found). By the time they reach to the surface of the earth, most of the diamonds are over a billion years old (a diamond could be the oldest material you might own because of this fact). The carbon in diamond may either come from exclusively organic source (called eclogitic diamonds), non-organic source (called harzburgitic diamonds) or a blend of the two. The diamond’s atomic structure gives it the property of being the hardest gemstone, mineral or substance known to man, synthetic or natural. Diamond will preserve its sharp corners and edges even after many years of constant wear while most other gemstones will have become chipped and worn.

What Makes Diamonds So Hard

Diamond structures follow the cubic crystal system, which is very resistant to any further transformation. It is made up of carbon atoms rearanged into tetrahedron shapes, although sometimes hexagonal-shaped diamonds are also found but not as common. Theoretically, an impressive diamond crystal can be composed of only one giant moleculle of carbon. As the most lustrous of true gems, diamonds have a briliant luster and exhibit dazzling color flashes caused by dispersion (also known as “fire”). The dispersion happen when light passes through a diamond and splits into the colors of the spectrum. The ‘brilliant cut’ is the most valuable and preferred cut in diamonds, it is a special cut designed to brinng out the most “fire” in the stone.

Interesting Diamond Facts

Diamonds are probably the most desired gemstones in the world. The diamonds is also used to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary. The oldest diamond ever found was from India. Diamonds are thought to have been first recognized and mined in India and began its colorful history there, where the gems have been mined and set into jewelry since at least 400 B.C. No other diamonds have generated the mystique and supernatural power equal to that associated with the great diamonds of India's past. When looking for diamonds, think of "5Cs" which is carat, cut, color, clarity and certificate. Although we often think of diamonds as being clear, there are also blue, red, black, pale green, pink and violet diamonds. These natural colored diamonds are the truly rare ones, and thereby can sometimes be the most costly.
However, diamonds are expected to be unbreakable by many people. This is not true. The crystal structure of diamond has ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ directions. A blow of sufficcient force, in a very exact direction, can split, chip, crack or even shatter a diamond. Many synthetic materials are made to resemble diamond, such as cubic zirconia, strontium titanate, synthetic rutile, YAG, moissanite and synthetic spinel. From all of those, zircon is the only natural gemstone which comes closest in luster and fire to diamond, it has a strong double refraction and it is also softer than diamond.Asian origins: Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Astrologically, diamonds are associated with the zodiac sign of Aries.
April birth flower: Daisy.

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Chrysoprase

Chrysoprase or also spelled as chrysophrase is one of the most valuable gems member of chalcedony (a cryptocrystalline form of silica). It is composed of crystals so fine that when using normal magnification, they can not be seen as distinct particles. This sets it apart from rock crystal, citrine, amethyst and other varieties of crystalline quartz which are basically transparennt and formed from easily recognised six-sided crystals. Chrysoprase is a warm stone composed mostly of silicon dioxide. Its microscopic fine quartz fibers have a radial structure and it belongs to the hexagonal crystal system.

The stone of chrysoprase occurs in serpentine rocks and in weathered materialls of nickel ore deposits as nodules or fillings of clefts. Large broken pieces are very often full of fissures with irregular colors. The stone’s colour is usually apple-green but there is also deep green. If the green colour of emerald is due to the presence of chromium inside, these chrysoprase gemstones are due to the nickel content (about 1 to 3%).

Beads of chrysoprase tend to loose its colour and fade in sunlight but they will normally restore it when stored in a moist places. Fading happens because dehydration robs stones of their coloring agent, pimelite a silicate. Pimellite has a layered structure that readily traps or loses moisture. They lose translucency and luster as the stones dry out. To restore these attributes, wear your chrysoprase jewelry when taking a bath or leave the stones in wet cotton.

How Chrysoprase is Formed

Chrysoprase is formed through a secondary process of the oxidation of salicylic acid sollutions and nickel deposits. Opal, a mineral which looks identical to chrysoprase is formed during the initial process. The dissolving nickel out of the surrounding rocks by the solution gives tthe mineral its dark green color and water deposits in the cristal lattice. Chrysoprase is formed once the water is lost from the lattice, and the characteristic green color turns pale.

Chrysoprase Color and Australian Jade

The best quality material is a rich ‘apple’ green, homogenous, translucent chalcedony which is often used as a simulant for rare and highly prizedImperial Jade. With many similarities with jadeite, chrysoprase is often marketed as “Australian Imperial Jade”. Besides chrysoprase, jades are imitated by a number of other minerals including aventurine and serpentine. Imitations of chrysoprase are also oftenly made by staining the agate. Chrysoprase can vary in color from grass green, apple green to yellowish green depending on the levels of hydrated silicates and nickel oxides that present in the gem. Other types of green chalcedony include prase, which is a very rare less vivid green of chalcedony.

Chrysoprase is said to be a “Victory Stone”, the name of the gem has been derived from a Greek word “chrysos prason” means gold leek. It was apparently applied to some yellowish green gems which includes beryl, but it gradually became limited to the apple-green colored chalcedony: chrysoprase. Chrysoprase is not considered as an anniversary gemstone but this Alexander the Great’s favourite gemstone is often used for cabochons, beads and cameos.

The best quality of chrysoprase comes from Queensland, Australia. Other places includes Brazil, Austria, Czechoslovakia, United States and Russia. Before Australia became the dominant source of chrysoprase, the scarcity of the gem was compensated by staining colorless quartz green, using either chromium salts or nickel salts (both greening agents).

It is believed chrysoprase have special properties:
• To increase compassion and vertility.
• To soothe loneliness and heartache.
• To maintain emotional balance, self-confidence and reduce sadness.
• Brings prosperity and good fortune when worn or held.
• It is an aid to sound sleep and deep rest.
• Healing eye problems and certain immune system.
• If placed at your window or bedroom doors, it protects your spirit during your sleep.
• If placed under your matress or in your pillowcase, it helps to keep your body and mind still while you sleep.


Astrologically, chrysoprase is associated with the zodiac signs of Gemini.

Mohs scale hardness: 6-7

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