It's the letter "T" for the Blogging A - Z Challenge

Today’s topic starts with the letter “T”.

“T” is the letter for today and the stone is Tanzanite, a pretty blue-purple color.  It was discovered in Tanzania in 1967 and was named after the location.  It is usually as reddish brown in its rough state and is heat treated to enhance the color. 

The deep blue color stones are harder to find now.  The paler colored stones are easier to find and are faceted and used for beads. 

 

In 2002, the American Gem Trade Association chose Tanzanite as the December birthstone, the first change to the birthstone list since 1912. 

The largest cut stone is 252.2 carats and is recognized by the Guinness World Records and the largest rough cut is 16,839 carats (7.46 lbs.) discovered in 2005. 

It was estimated that two million carats of tanzanite were mined between 1967 and 1971 when the mines were nationalized by the government.  In 1990, the government divided the mines into four sectors (A, B, C, and D) and leased two sectors (A and C) to large companies and the remaining sectors were reserved for the local miners.  In 2005, the lease for sector C for was renewed for 40 million dollars. 

In 2003, legislation was introduced to prohibit the export of rough cut stones to India (where many gemstones were processed) in order to spur development of local processing businesses.  This was phased in over two years when only stones over .5 grams were affected.  That was changed in 2010 to stones over 1 gram.

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to come back tomorrow to discover what the "U" stone will be.

Carolyn

It's the letter "S" for the Blogging A - Z Challenge

Today’s topic starts with the letter “S”.

The stone for the letter “S” is sodalite, a royal blue mineral usually enjoyed as an ornamental gemstone.  Discovered in Greenland in 1811, it did not become an ornamental stone until 1891 when vast deposits were found in Ontario, Canada. 

It can also be found in the US states of Maine and Arkansas with smaller deposits found in South America, Portugal, Romania, Burma and Russia.  It was named after its sodium content. 

It is well known for its blue coloring but can also be grey, green, yellow or pink and is usually mottled with white veins or patches.  It is usually fashioned in cabochons and beads. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to come back tomorrow to find out what the letter "T" will be. 

Carolyn

It's the letter "R" for Blogging A - Z Challenge

Today’s topic starts with the letter “R”.

Rhodonite is the letter “R” stone for today.  Its name comes from the Greek “rhodon” meaning rosy.  It is a pretty rosy pink to orangey red.  It can also have a strong black streak that looks very pretty in jewelry pieces. 

It can be made into many different bead shapes or carved into focal pieces.  

It can be found in Australia, Brazil, Peru, Russia and the US.  It is the official gem of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Sorry this one is so short but there wasn't much to discover about this stone.

Please stop back by again tomorrow for the reveal of the letter "S".

Carolyn

It's the letter "Q" for the Blogging A - Z Challenge

Today’s topic starts with the letter “Q”.

A stone of many colors, it is one of the most common minerals found on the surface of the planet that can be found in a large range of colors, colorless, purple, rose, red, black, yellow, brown, green, blue, and orange. 

It is a stone known by many names, agate, amethyst, carnelian, citrine, jasper, rock crystal, tiger eye, and the many types of quartz. 

It has been the most commonly used mineral since antiquity for jewelry and carvings. 

It was used in many countries for stone tools.  High purity quartz is used in the semiconductor industry and is mined in North Carolina, USA.  The largest single crystal was found in Brazil and weighed in at more than 44 tons.

Thank you for stopping and be sure to return on Monday, April 22, for the letter "R".  I will also be posting about a Pearl Challenge that I participated in on Sunday.

Carolyn

It's the letter "P" for Blogging A - Z Challenge

Today’s topic starts with the letter ”P”.

Peridot is a yellowy green to olive or bottle green stone.  It is the gemstone variant of olivine and its distinctive color is due to the presence of iron in the stone.  It is one of the few gemstones that only come in one color. 

High-grade, highly polished and faceted stones can be expensive but are great to work with because of the light reflecting the green color. It can be a clear or opaque stone. 

It has been a prized gemstone since ancient Egypt and was gotten from an island in the Red Sea known as ‘Serpent Island’.  It can be found be in Brazil, Burma, Egypt, Ireland, Russia, Sri Lanka and the US state of Arizona. 

Peridot found in Arizona

It can also be found sometimes in meteorites.  A famous Pallasite meteorite was offered for auction in April 2008 with a requested price of close to $3 million at Bonhams, but did not sell.  The largest cut peridot olivine is a 310 carat (62 g) specimen in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to stop by tomorrow to see what the letter "Q" brings.

Carolyn

It's the letter "O" in the Blogging A - Z Challenge

Today’s topic starts with the letter “O”.

It was hard to decide which “stone” to pick for the letter “O”.  My choices were a volcanic glass, a mineraloid, and a banded variety of chalcedony. 

Since I had already blogged about chalcedony and didn’t want to blog about a mineraloid, I decided to go with the volcanic glass “stone” called obsidian.  It is formed when lava cools rapidly with little crystal growth.  It is commonly found in lava flows known as obsidian flows.

 

It is hard and brittle which breaks with very sharp edges.  Those edges have been used in the past as cutting and piercing tools. 

Pure obsidian is usually dark in color though the colors varies based on what impurities are in it.  Iron and magnesium usually give a dark brown to black color.  Some stones have an inclusion of small white, radially clustered crystals of cristobalite producing a blotchy or snowflake pattern thus snowflake obsidian. 

Snowflake obsidian

Obsidian can be found on most continents where there have been volcanic eruptions.  There are several areas in the US where you can hike on obsidian flows such as Medicine Lake Volcano in the Cascades, Inyo Craters in eastern California, and in Yellowstone National Park. 

Obsidian was valued in the Stone Age because like flint it can be broken to make sharp blades or arrowheads.  It was also polished to create early mirrors.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to come back tomorrow to see what the letter "P" will be.

Carolyn

The letter is "N" for the Blogging A - Z Challenge

Today’s topic starts with the letter “N”.

Today’s gemstone is Nephrite jade, an ornamental stone used in carvings, beads and cabochon cut gemstones.  It is one of two different minerals that are called jade.  Nephrite jade is mostly grays and greens and jadeite jade contains blacks, reds, pinks and violet and is more vivid in coloring.  Nephrite can also be a translucent white to light yellow color which is known in China as mutton fat jade or an opaque white to light brown or gray known as chicken bone jade.

Mutton fat jade

Canada is the modern source of stone used for carvings.  It can be mined to depths of 10-20 feet or found in river beds.  It has a very hard and fibrous crystalline structure.  When polished it has a soft oil-like appearance. 

Nephrite was used mostly in pre-1800 China, New Zealand, North American and Southeast Asia.  Its name comes from lapis nephriticus which is derived from a Greek word meaning “kidney stone”.  It was once believed to be a cure for kidney stones. 

Nephrite was used to create many utilitarian and ceremonial objects ranging from decorative items to a burial suit.  Nephrite jade is highly valued in the Maori culture in New Zealand and plays an important part in their culture.  It was used to make weapons and neck pendants which were handed down from father to son as family heirlooms.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to return tomorrow to find out what letter "O" will be.

Carolyn