August Birthstones-Peridot and Spinel!

August babes are now blessed with two birthstones, and one of my personal favorite gemstones, spinel. The original birthstone of August is peridot, but spinel has been added in the recent past.

Peridot comes from the mineral olivine, it often occurs in volcanic rock called basalt, and has a yellowish-green color. Peridot is considered the most affordable, untreated, green stone.

Peridot is mostly found in the United States, China, Mynamar, and Vietnam. The bigger the peridot, the finer the quality. A fine quality peridot should be a solid green color with no yellow or brown hues.

The Basics of Peridot

• Mohs Scale: 6.5-7

• Mineral: Olivine

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Spinel is a gem of its own unique beauty. This gem has been historically mistaken for ruby, and has been used in the jewelry of royals for hundreds of years.

Spinel was not recognized as its own gem until the 1800’s. Spinel comes in a variety of colors: pink, red, neon pink, grey, black, violet, blue, purple, oranges. There are also color-change varieties and star spinel. Red is the most rare and valuable color or spinel.

Spinel is found in places such as Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.

Synthetic spinel is also very common, and usually easily detectable with its distinct fluorescence and refractive index.

The Basics:

• Mohs Scale: 8

• Mineral: Spinel

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Fun Facts:

• Arizona provides the world with most commercial quality peridot

• Cleopatra’s collection of “emeralds” is thought to have actually been peridots

• Peridot is thought to protect the wearer from evil spirits

• Some peridot has come to Earth via meteorite

• Spinel and corundum (sapphire and ruby) form in the same environment

• Producers were trying to create synthetic blue sapphire and accidentally created synthetic blue spinel