Peridot is the Birthstone for August

Peridot is the gem-quality variety of the mineral olivine and has been used as a gemstone for over 3500years. Historically it was first mined on the volcanic Red Sea island of Zebirget (St. John’s Island) off the coast of Egypt. It is presumed that many of the emeralds in Cleopatra’s fabled emerald collection were indeed peridot's from Zebirget. Interestingly, it is one of the few gemstones, which only occur in one colour, and it is the only gemstone found in meteorites.

Today peridot is a popular and relatively inexpensive gemstone available in small to mid-sized calibrated shapes and sizes. However, in 3 carats and above the price of peridot quickly increases exponentially so that high quality pieces in large sized peridot are rare and expensive. Most people are familiar with the pale-ish green stones seen commonly in jewellery, but fewer people are familiar with the truly beautiful and deep colours of larger, high quality stones. To view of a number of excellent peridots make an appointment to come in to our Sydney office.

Some well known peridot producing countries are Pakistan, USA, Myanmar (Burma), China and the original deposits of Zebirget Egypt.

Moh’s Hardness: 6.5-7

Specific Gravity:3.30-3.40

Refractive Index:1.6534-1.710

Birefringence: 0.036

Treatments: Heat-treated

Incidence; Rarely

Purpose: To lighten colour

Durability: Fair to good

Special Care: Sensitive to heat and acids

Synthetics: No

Possible Imitations: CZ, Synthetic Spinel and Glass