Thursday, February 9, 2012

My Brief Intro To Peridot Jewellery

By John S Stewart


To give a piece of Peridot Jewellery containing a birthstone gem will bring luck and protection. Such examples could be Peridot Earrings, Peridot Pendants or Peridot Earrings. Monthly birthstones symbolize the birth month of the Gregorian calendar.

If you are not an expert, you can purchase jewellery containing peridot, but it can be a terribly difficult task. To help, I created this brief guide that will hopefully help you make the right choice for your needs. When you buy jewellery peridot, and you should consider a combination of peridot colour, clarity, weight and cut. As with all gemstones, there are compromises that must be done and when you select the type and quality of peridot, it is usually just down to the peridot colour option that you may find appealing and within budget.

Introduction

I truly believe that all peridot gems and jewellery be purchased from suppliers in accordance with the provisions that were acquired in ethical conditions.

Peridot is one of the most beautiful of all the green gems, you will find a colour that is the epitome of green grass. Oddly, the name topaz may have originally applied to peridot, as found on the island of Topazos (Zabargad) in the Red Sea.

History, Legend and Lore

Former civilizations believe that peridot is a gift of Mother Nature every year to celebrate the new world. National leaders, who used to wear peridot publicly, were considered benign, just and wise.

In ancient times and Middle Ages, it was believed that the cosmos is made from precious stones and that Peridot was the planet Saturn. The esoteric movement revived the ancient belief and so the stone industry used it as another marketing tool to promote certain gems.

The green stone was first called topazion, and this name remained until the 18th century when the British began to refer to the gem as peridot. Today, the gem variety of forsterite of the olivine group still bears that name.

Like other gems, Peridot was believed to offer special powers to the wearer. Marbodei mentioned in De Lapidibus that Peridot would dispel the terrors of the night: "If it were to be used as a protection from the wiles of evil spirits, the stone had to be pierced and strung on the hair of an ass and then attached to the left arm." In the Middle Ages, the belief persisted that Peridot would dissolve enchantments and put evil spirits to flight.

Although no records survive, significant work must have taken place during the 11th and 12th centuries. Christian crusaders are known to have returned home with large Peridots as part of their loot. Fine gems from these mines remain today in a number of European sanctuaries including the Treasury of the Three Magi in Cologne and the Vatican. The precious stone and jewelry collection in the Tower of London also contains large peridot gems.

In early 1900 new olivine crystals began to appear in European collections of minerals and well-cut stone was again offered for sale by jewelers important. Turkish leaders in Egypt, apparently led a number of mining projects successfully until 1922, when the Red Sea, the company acquired a mining lease and find new sources of stone materials. Ismalum Bey, executive director of the company that sells the largest in the history of glass-glass peridot in fact, only half of the companies in Cairo Ismalun Max. Dimensions 6.6 by 5.1 by 2.5 inches, well formed, showing an almost perfect black and green. Ismalun took the glass in London and was sold for $ 100 in the British Museum of Natural History, where you can see today. Red Sea Mining gave up its cooperation with the outbreak of World War II and since then the tank is Peridot worked sporadically. For 20 years, it was abandoned.

Mineralogists know that large olivine crystals initially formed in the cracks, lack of depth of 25 meters which became the foundation stone of the country, the peridotite. Poorly attached to the walls crack, the crystals may have been released by the seismic action or adverse weather, after which it fell to the bottom of the crack, where the miners were mixed in the rubble of crushed stone. Although the crystal faces are clean and bright, often with fresh fractures, confirming the theory that the earthquake damage.

Peridot are several places around the world, but the large rock crystals are unique to Zabargad. The crystals are usually flat and a table. Double terminated examples are extremely rare. The name Peridot is used to describe the chain of forsterite fayalite olivine series.

What is Peridot

Summarising the Properties of Peridot

Composition: Peridot is a gem of olivine group, which has the following species: forsterite-fayalite-Mg2SiO4 Fe2SiO4

Hardness (Mohs): 6.5 to 7.

Division: Various imperfect in one direction (rarely seen).

Density: 3.34 + 0.17, -0.07

Refractive Index: 1.654-1.690 (0.020)

Birefringence: 0.035 to 0.038

Optical character: two axes (positive or negative, the index is usually near the center of alpha beta and gamma).

Crystal system: orthorhombic, rocks usually occurs in rounded grains are exceptionally rare formats.

colour: Mostly green, yellow or brown.

Pleochroism: Weak to moderate, dichroic colour filters, the filter filter.

UV Fluorescence: In general, inert.

Spread: Happening 0020: cat's eye and star peridot are known, but they are limited.

Manipulation: ultrasound - not recommended, do not clean peridot ultrasound. Steamer - safe.The no better way to take care of peridot cleaned with warm soapy water. Avoid exposure to heat, acids, and rapid changes in temperature.

Enhancements: Peridot is not typically enhanced.

Synthetic Available: No

The purchase of Peridot Jewellery

When purchasing Peridot there are several factors you need to consider - these are the 4 C's - Colour, Clarity, Carat Weight and Cut.

Colour

Peridot is ideochromatic that is coloured by iron, to give basic information on its composition. The ideal colour is a rich yellow-green, but some of the peridot is a yellow-green, green-yellow or brown. The best colour of peridot is usually about 10-15% iron.

Forsterite-fayalite series is peridot mineral, which is part of the group of olivine. This is one of the "idiochromatic" gems, meaning its colour comes from the basic chemical composition of the mineral itself, not by small impurities, and then only found in shades of green. Why, in fact, Peridot is one of the few gemstones are found in only one colour.

*Hue refers to the Peridot's basic colour. *Saturation (also called colour purity and intensity) is the extent to which the hue is masked by other colours. *Tone refers to the amount of colour in the Peridot ranging from very light to very dark.

Clarity

Since Peridot is not a particularly expensive stone, eye-clean clarity is the standard. Burmese gems are often marred by small platelet inclusions, which may give some stones a sleepy appearance. The strong birefringence (0.036) of Peridot can also give stones a slightly sleepy look. This is most pronounced in large stones (10 cts. plus).

Clarity, as with all other gemstones, is officially classified as the best in the VVS (very very slightly included) to VS (very slightly included), the SI-S2 (slightly included) and get off at I1, I2, 13 (included).

Cut

Only imagination limits the cuts and shapes applied to Peridot, with everything from stunning fantasy cuts to tumbled beads being seen. Again, because it is not terribly expensive, cutters can focus on beauty more than weight retention. This means that good cutting, proportions and symmetry are to be expected. Stay away from misshapen native cut gems, unless they are cheap enough to recut to good proportions.

Prices

Peridot ranges in price from about 50-80/ct. and well-cut gems 1-2 ct. sizes up to up to 400-450 ct. great pearls of superior colour.

Size of Stone

Peridot is common in sizes ranging from mixed faceted stones of 10 carats. or more. Fine faceted stones of over 300 carats are known but rare.

Sources

Peridot was found in a handful of places in the world. In the larger sizes (10 cts. Plus) in Pyaung Gaung. Faceted beads of hundreds of carats are known from this deposit. In the 1990s, a new deposit of Pakistan Suppatt region discovered, and this material is really equal to that of Burma.

In the US, the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation supplies good material, but this rarely cuts gems above 10 cts. Peridot is also mined in China, Brazil, Australia and Norway, among other places. The historic deposit of Zabargad has not produced at all in decades.

Enhancements

Peridot is usually not improved.

Imitations

Peridot has never been synthesized, but a number of imitations exist, including natural stones such as tourmaline, and man-made imitations such as glass. Green glass is the most common imitation, and can be easily separated by its single refraction.

Cleaning Peridot

As with most jewellery, it is rarely necessary to have your jewellery "professionally" cleaned unless they were allowed to become acutely dirty and / or scratched or damaged. If cleaned regularly enough, so simply by cleaning with hot, soapy water lightly with a supremely soft toothbrush, all the fire and brilliance original stones remain or be brought back to life. Just be careful.

My Last Word..,

No matter where you buy jewellery, it is certainly better to use a reputable supplier for your Peridot Rings and other Peridot Jewellery, whether via the Internet or high street.

I suggest you buy your Peridot Jewellery carefully. Expect to pay more for large stones and remember at the end of the day, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". So choose the stones you want, not what we are led to believe you want! Whatever peridot colour, size or shape you choose, be sure to use and enjoy!




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