One of the “new” gemstones is called Kunzite, a pale pink stone with a bit of a lilac cast. Of course the gem itself is  terribly ancient, but it was only discovered in 1902. It was named after George Kunz, who was the lead jeweler at Tiffany & Co., and a mineralogist himself.  I have heard it described as a very feminine stone, and of course it must be cut correctly to show its delicate beauty to full advantage.

I think this is cheating, but the stone is often heated or  irradiated to increase the richness of the color. I am old fashioned, and prefer gemstones au naturel.

Speaking of au naturel, this gemstone should not be worn on the beach or in direct sunlight, because this could cause the color to fade. The pink undertones are due to the manganese content of the gemstone. Pretty, but somewhat delicate in this regard!

Tags: gemstones

This entry was posted on Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 8:16 pm and is filed under Jewelry History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.