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Color and Asterism in Rose Quartz
In the mineralogical literature, the pink color of rose quartz has been attributed to titanium, manganese, and iron by a large number of authors for over 100 years. Tiny needles of rutile have been given credit for forming the six-ray star of rose quartz for the same amount of time. In the late 1990s, an interesting investigation…
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Uses of Rose Quartz
Rose quartz is one of the most commonly encountered lapidary materials. It is abundant, usually inexpensive, and popular as tumbled stones, beads, and cabochons. These have the richest color when pieces are at least a centimeter in diameter or thickness because of the material’s weak color. With a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale and…
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Physical Properties of Rose Quartz
The pink color of rose quartz ranges from a very light, almost imperceptible pink, to a rich translucent pink. It is usually cut into cabochons, beads, and faceted stones of about eight millimeters in size or larger to display the rich pink color. Some specimens of rose quartz contain a dense network of fine inclusions…
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What is Rose Quartz?
Rose quartz is the name used for pink specimens of the mineral quartz. It is abundant, common, and found in large quantities at numerous locations around the world. It is usually occurs as massive, anhedral occurrences in hydrothermal veins and pegmatites. The pink color of rose quartz is attributed to microscopic inclusions of a pink variety of the mineral dumortierite. These inclusions…
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Investing in Tanzanite?
Numerous sellers of tanzanite use the fact that tanzanite is only found in one small area to promote the material’s rarity. A counter to that is that the world is an enormous planet and zoisite is not an extremely rare mineral. How many people and companies are out looking for samples of zoisite and taking…
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How Much More Tanzanite?
Tanzanite is one of the best-selling colored stones in today’s gem and jewelry markets. That is a surprise considering that it was only discovered in the 1960s, while all of the other best-selling colored stones have been known for centuries. It has a unique blue color that grows in popularity as more people learn about…
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Imitation Tanzanite
Imitations exist for every popular gem, and tanzanite is no exception. A few manufactured materials have a similar appearance to tanzanite. A synthetic forsterite (a mineral in the olivine solid solution series) is being produced with a color and pleochroism that resembles tanzanite. Coranite is a synthetic blue corundum that resembles tanzanite. Tanavyte is a purple yttrium aluminum…
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Treated, Synthetic, Imitation
Heat-Treated Tanaznite Heat treatment is done to almost all of the tanzanite on the market today. With the exception of a small amount of naturally blue material, heating is the source of tanzanite’s desirable blue color. This treatment is widely known and should be expected by retailers and customers. A small amount of untreated tanzanite…
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Tanzanite Price Stability
The price history of tanzanite has seen many sharp rises and falls. These price changes have been related to the limited number of mines and the limited geographic location of the world’s tanzanite resource. Decisions and regulations of the Tanzanian government can have an immediate impact on the availability and price of the entire world’s…
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Teach the World about Tanzanite
In 1967, when the first tanzanite had been faceted and prepared for the market, jewelers and the public knew nothing of the gem. They had never seen its blue color or heard its name. To introduce the world to tanzanite, Tiffany and Company launched a public education program. Tiffany prepared educational materials that would make…