The Peridot stone with its summery golden green colours is a perfect stone for the month of August.
Peridot Gemstone
The peridot is one of the few gemstones which come in one colour only. It colour ranges from rich bottle green with a slight tinge of gold to an almost yellowish,brownish olive oil colour. Unlike most gems which receive their colours from impurities found within their structure, the peridot’s colour is caused by very fine traces of iron. From a chemical point of view, peridot is an iron magnesium silicate. The intensity of the colour depends on the amount of iron actually present. Peridot is not particularly hard – only 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs scale – but it is easy to look after and fairly robust. Peridot cat’s eyes and star peridot are particularly rare and precious.
The peridot is cut in accordance with its crystal shape, mostly faceted or in classical table cuts, or round, antique, as an octahedron or oval. Smaller crystals are cut into standardised series stones, larger ones into imaginative one-offs. Cabochons are made if the material contains more inclusions, for the domed cut brings out the fine silky shine of the inclusions to their best.
The cutters know full well that this gemstone is anything but easy to work with. The raw crystals can be very tricky, as this is a brittle gemstone with a strong cleavage. There is often a good deal of tension on the inside of the crystal. But once the cutter has succeeded in removing the coarser inclusions, the peridot is a precious stone with good wearing qualities which does not call for any special care.
This gemstone has no fewer than three names: ‘peridot’, ‘chrysolite’, from the Greek ‘gold stone’, and ‘olivine’, for the peridot is the gemstone form of the mineral olivine. This stone is believed to have been mined as a gemstone for over 4000 years and is mentioned in the Bible under its original name of “chrysolite” (see Exodus 28:20, Song of Solomon 5:14, Revelations 21:20).
This stone is so ancient that it can be found in Egyptian jewellery from the early 2nd millennium B.C.. The stones used at that time came from a deposit on a small volcanic island in the Red Sea, some 45 miles off the Egyptian coast at Aswan. Back then the egyptian miners only mined the stone at night, as they believed the gem was invisible in the daylight. But as it was believed the gem had the ability to absorb the sun’s rays it had the ability to glow in the dark and hence it was easier to discover in the nighttime.
Far away from Egypt, on a tiny island off Hawai called Oahu, the beach is coloured green due to small grains of peridot found in the sand. Locals there believe the small grains are the tears of the Goddess Pele and small stones (mostly imported from Arizona, as there is no mining on the island for peridot) are sold to tourists.
The ancient Romans too were fond of this gemstone and esteemed its radiant green shine, which does not change even in artificial light. For that reason they nicknamed it the ‘emerald of the evening’. Peridot is also found in Europe in medieval churches, where it adorns many a treasure.
Mining of this stone over the centuries has taken place in China, Brazil, Australia, Norway among others. Stones from East Burma, now known as Myanmar, have a vivid light green and fine inclusions with a silky shine to them. Peridot from Arizona, where it is popularly used in native American jewellery, often has somewhat yellowish or gold-brown nuances.
Peridot deposits found in raw state
However, sensationally rich deposit of the finest peridots had been found in 1994 in the Kashmir region, in Pakistan. Located some 15 000 feet above sea level in the ice-capped mountains of the Himalayas lies the remote and often inaccessible Peridot Mines. To get there is not for the faint hearted. From the nearest town you need to ride for approximately 10 hours, then set of on a two to three days climb before you reach the mines. And that is if the weather allows for it. For this reasons, the mines are only operated in the summer months between July and September. However, it may be these hard conditions to thank, for the peridot found in this location is incomparably beautiful in colour and transparency.
In order to emphasise the special quality of the peridots from Pakistan, these stones are offered as ‘Kashmir peridots’, following the famous Kashmir sapphires. Creative gemstone cutters have succeeded in cutting some fascinatingly beautiful one-off stones of more than 100 carats from some of the large, fine, clear crystals with their magnificent rich green.
In myths and legends, the peridot is associated with luck and warding off evil spirits. In many cultures it was believed that if the stone was set in precious metal, the capacity to bring the bearer luck and good fortune intensified even more. Hence many goblets, sword handles and other artifacts belonging to the rich and powerful aristocracy were encrusted with Peridots.
Today the stone is mostly cherished and appreciated by people for its beauty, though maybe less so for its powers.
