Shiny! Sparkly! ZIRCONS!
If you've had the chance to have a look through some of the gemstones on my website, you'll probably have noticed the prevalence of one particular gemstone; Zircons!
A highly refractive and brilliant stone capable of outshining diamond with its scintillation, this gorgeous gemstone is also one of my (obviously) personal favourites!
Not to be confused with the unfortunately similarly named, man made (synthetic and completely different mineral) zirconia or cubic zirconia, zircon is a natural, earth mined mineral that comes in a wide variety of warm earth tones, golden yellows, deep and vibrant reds, greens, blues (usually after heat treatment, though there are exceptions), and white.
Other more unusual types of zircons are bi-colour gems (more than one colour in the same stone) which can happen in sectors with clear delineations of colour or blended like a gradient or "ombre" effect, and stones with waxy lustre, known as silkiness or "sleepy" effects where the gemstone can look slightly cloudy or murky like looking through water or opaque glass.
Zircon is mined all around the world with notable gemstone quality pieces coming from Australia, Africa Cambodia and India.
A geologically significant stone, zircon has been used in geological dating and location identification and is used as an indicator of the presence of corundum (sapphire, ruby), regularly appearing alongside sapphires in mining.
Zircon is a member of the silicate family and a colourful alternative to diamonds with a high enough Mohs hardness of 7 to 7.5, to make it a great gemstone for use in jewellery.
A fascinating little nugget of information I've always found interesting: the colour nd lustre of the zircon can sometimes be an indicator of the stones age, so when you se a waxy looking green zircon out there, you're probably looking at a much older specimen than one of its more flashy cousins!
Suffice it to say, I could wax on and on and on about this gem and how much I love it, but go have a look for yourself here on my website or any other notable gem collection out there.
❤️
From mindat.org:
"Zircon, zirconium orthosilicate, is found in most igneous rocks and some metamorphic rocks as small crystals or grains, mostly widely distributed and rarely more than 1% of the total mass of the rock. It is also found as alluvial grains in some sedimentary rocks due to its high hardness. Zircon has a high refractive index and, when the crystals are large enough, is often used as a gemstone. In geology, zircon is used for radiometric dating of zircon-bearing rocks (using isotopes of U which is often present as an impurity element, as is Th, radiogenic Pb, Hf, Y, P, and others)."