Types of green stones

There is nothing sweeter for the human eye, like a riot of greenery surrounding it. The tenderness of the spring leaves, the saturation of the summer motley grass, the fading colors of autumn and the severity of the coniferous forest covered with a snow cover leave no one indifferent. Therefore, stones that have a green color are perceived by people as carrying peace, creating harmony and providing comfort and safety.

Products from green minerals are most attractive to people, as the color is pleasing to the eye and is calmly perceived by the nervous system, without causing irritation. A person wearing a green pebble decoration is perceived by others as rich and generous, akin to Mother Earth. Also, the green color of the stones has a calming effect on the cardiovascular system and relieves psychological stress.

There are precious, semi-precious and ornamental varieties of stone.

Of the green gemstones, the most famous emerald, the outdated name of which is “Smaragd”. So the stone is called because of the radiance peculiar to it. A characteristic feature of emerald is its transparency and depth of tone. The most valuable stones have an even saturated color.

Green diamond in nature is extremely rare. Its unique color is due to natural radioactivity. The most famous natural diamond of green color is in Dresden. Pear-shaped crystal has an apple-green color.

Among sapphires so named for blue, there are specimens painted in green tones. This shade gives the transparent stone iron without admixture of titanium. Sapphire is an oxide of aluminum with admixtures of titanium, iron, chromium and vanadium.

Noble beryl, a relative of emerald, is painted in apple-green color. A transparent crystal has a glassy shine and belongs to fragile minerals with imperfect cleavage.

Aquamarine bluish-green or green-blue coloring reminds sea water. The long hexagonal prisms of aquamarine have a strong glass luster and are filled with various patches that can give the effect of a cat's eye, a star, or be in the form of snowflakes. Because of the tenderness of the color of aquamarine, precious stones were considered only at the end of the 18th century with the advent of the rococo style. And the discovery of a new diamond cut revealed the beauty of the icy stone.

Chrysoberyl or chrysopal is a beryllium aluminate with admixtures of iron, chromium and titanium. It is a rare mineral. Its transparent varieties, despite the rarity, do not belong to the category of expensive stones, which does not prevent them from being beautiful and durable. The most valuable specimens with a pronounced iridescent iridescent effect are processed in the form of a “cat's eye” cabochon. And the original large crystals are of great value among collectors.

Alexandrite famous for double color.The color of the mineral ranges from dark blue-green to green with an olive tinge. This color is characteristic of a stone in daylight, and with the onset of dusk, alexandrite acquires various shades of red and violet. This effect is achieved thanks to the features of the crystal lattice.

In Russia, alexandrite is considered the "widow's stone." It is not recommended to wear any one piece of jewelry with him, you definitely need to wear a second pair with the same stone. For example, earrings and ring. After the death of Alexander II, it became fashionable to wear jewelry with alexandrite surrounded by two diamonds, symbolizing two significant deeds in the life of the emperor.

Demantoid, a type of andradite from the pomegranate series, looks like a diamond, only green. Impurities of chromium and iron are responsible for the color of the mineral, and titanium compounds give a yellow-green hue to the stone. The mineral is very rare, the game of light in the facets, it even surpasses the diamond.

Especially prized copies having impregnations of bissolite, called “horse tail”, giving the stone additional beauty and uniqueness. This feature can boast of stones mined in the Ural deposits.

Bright green tsavoriteFirst discovered in the late 70s of the last century in northeastern Tanzania, it is a rare type of garnet. Its color is due to vanadium tsavorite, and the emerald green stone is obtained from a mixture of chromium.

Greenish Topaz - one of the rarest stones. The color of the transparent stone is provided by the defect (vacancy of atoms) of the structure. Two-colored crystals with zones of blue and yellow colors after treatment become beautiful green and are highly valued.

Green transparent brightly colored noble spinel also belongs to the category of gems. Octahedral crystals have a very high hardness and are used as jewelry.

Also precious stones are transparent corundum crystals, the green variety of which in ancient times was called the "Oriental Emerald".

In the world classification, the concept of semi-precious stones is absent, but in Russia this is the name for minerals, which, depending on quality, can be attributed to non-precious or semi-precious gems.

Chrysolite, One of 7 historical stones has the same centuries-old history as the emerald. One of the ancient names of the stone is “evening emerald”, since by the light of candles its green shine is most noticeable. Chrysolite was used to decorate the clothes of the high priest, there are references to it in the Bible, and John the Theologian in the Apocalypse says that the mineral decorates the seventh base of Heavenly Jerusalem.

Hawaii, which is also one of the precious varieties of olivine, comes from the lavas of the Hawaiian Islands, unlike chrysolite, has a pale green color and is not as widely known as its relative. Olivine itself is too fragile and is more often found in the form of sand. Its distribution is so great that it is found even in the composition of the lunar soil.

Uvaro and grossular are green varieties of pomegranate. Emerald green uvarovit, named after the president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Count S. S. Uvarov, is highly valued by collectors for beauty and rarity. Jewelry used plates with a brush of small crystals. The people uvarov bears the name of the Ural emerald because of the similarity of color with a precious stone.

Grossulyar so named for its resemblance to the fruits of green gooseberry. The color of the crystals ranges from colorless, golden yellow, brown to green. The bright green version of the grossular is called tsavorite - in honor of the locality where it was first discovered. Natural grossular is turbid, and the transparency and brilliance of quality specimens is achieved by processing.

Onion green prasiolite It is often used as a cheap substitute for expensive crystals, resembling the appearance of beryl, tourmaline and peridot. Natural stone has a light color and is quite rare. The saturation of the color indicates that the mineral is obtained by heating and irradiating the amethyst.

Some varieties of tourmaline are green:

• verdelit has a moderate green color;
• watermelon differs bicolor red-green color.

Transparent high-quality crystals can be classified as gems. Their faceted variations are used for jewelry. Crystals of lower quality are used as an ornamental stone.

Chrome-diopside is a stone of emerald color. This is a very fragile and capricious mineral in processing, which is the rarest and most valuable variety of diopside. Only small crystals can be cut, larger stones are used as ornamental stones.

Dioptase - transparent through the green mineral, is quite rare. In jewelry, it is used as inserts of raw crystals for exclusive products. It is difficult to handle, as it is very fragile. More often, the ore with dioptase crystals can be found in private collections and museums, as outwardly they look very attractive.

Chrysoprase refers to semi-precious and semi-precious stones. Its light green color can have shades from apple to grass and bluish-green. There are three categories of jewelry chrysoprase.

• Top grade used as a gem, it is transparent to a depth of 50 mm. Its evenly painted, intense emerald-colored plates may have small blotches in depth.
• First grade It is visible to a depth of no more than 20 mm and has a lighter uniform color. But there may be whitish and opaque areas.
• Second grade refers to the semi-precious stones. The bluish-green color of the mineral can alternate with whitish and yellow-green stripes, alternating transparent and turbid layers, forming an uneven pattern.

Discovered in the Czech Republic moldavit refers to quartz. Judging by the structure, the stone is a transparent natural glass and has a bottle-green color. It is assumed that the stone is of foreign origin, or was the result of a meteorite strike on the ground.

Most often you can find ornamental types of stones. These are turbid or completely opaque minerals used for the manufacture of various items - from jewelry to monuments.

Green gem from the Ural is best known among ornamental stones. malachite. The stone consisting of copper oxide, carbon dioxide and water since Ancient Egypt was the basis for copper mining, but later people appreciated the velvety beauty of the dense varieties of stones giving beautiful patterns on the cut, consisting of rings formed during the formation of mineral layers. From the end of the 18th century, when copper deposits were discovered in the Urals, malachite was used as an ornamental stone for cladding various surfaces, as well as for the manufacture of decorative objects and household items.

Serpentine or Serpentine so named because of the characteristic color: on the surface of the stone, whose color varies from yellow-green to dark, almost black, visible stains from inclusions of other minerals of different colors, resembling the scales of snakes. The even-painted, sometimes translucent, type of coil is called noble serpentine and is used as a raw material for the manufacture of various handicrafts.

Jasper - semi-precious ornamental mineral of sedimentary origin. Its name (translated from the Greek "speckled stone"), this rock has received because of the many different colors interspersed, giving uneven color. Monochromatic stones of jasper in nature are very rare. Green jasper may have such trade names as:

• plasma - dark greens with small grainy inclusions;
• prase - green quartz drain, ornamental stone.

Heliotrope, or "bloody jasper" - ornamental stone of dark green color with red spots and streaks. The mineral belongs to the quartz group, but is completely opaque. Inserts of this stone are used in men's rings, in the manufacture of cameos.

Chrysopal is a green variety of opal. The coloring of the stone gives an admixture of nickel. Depending on the amount of impurity, chrysopal has different shades of apple-green color. Used for making inexpensive jewelry.

Amazonite - a beautiful blue-green variety of feldspar. Due to the germination of quartz crystals in it, a kind of pattern resembling the letters of distant ancestors is formed at the cut. Rare amazonite crystals are very much appreciated by collectors, but on the whole the stone is used to make various handicrafts as an inexpensive semi-precious mineral.

Nephritis known to man since ancient times, but he gained the greatest popularity in China, becoming its national symbol. All shades of green - from almost white to brown, are found in the rich palette of stone. There are also the most rare colors of white, gray, bluish and red jade. The most valuable specimens of jade have a uniform uniform color, stones with stripes, spots or clouds of divorce are valued much less.

Jade externally similar to jade, but has a higher jewel value. There are stones with green from light to dark, gray-green, white. There are rare varieties of black, brown, blue, purple, pink, and yellow jade. The most valuable variety of jadeite is called "imperial". It has a uniform dark green color of transparent or translucent crystals. Harder than jade, jade is used to make various decorations, crafts for the home.

Variscite bearing the name of the district of Variscia in Saxony, where it was first discovered at the end of the 19th century, can be confused with turquoise or chrysoraz. Variscite crystals consist of water-containing aluminum phosphate with impurities of iron or arsenic. The color of the mineral ranges from yellowish green to green with a blue tint. The crystals of the variscite of a round shape form brushes, occasionally druses, can occur in the form of stalactites. After processing are used as jewelry.

Many of the stones are considered magical and are used as amulets, talismans and amulets. If you look at the signs of the zodiac, then:

• Aries green diamond, demantoid, uvarite, emerald, turquoise, amazonite and lapis lazuli gray-green;
• Taurus amazonite, serpentine are recommended;
• Twins Pay attention to alexandrite, beryl, malachite, jade, amazonite, chrysoprase and emerald;
• Raku emerald, tourmaline, beryl, chrysoberyl, aquamarine, chrysoprase, chrysolite, amazonite, jade and zhedeite are needed;
• a lion may choose diamond, chrysolite, tourmaline, alexandrite, jadeite, jade, emerald or malachite;
• Virgo It is advised to wear aventurine, jade, chrysolite, jasper, jadeite, emerald, sapphire, tourmaline, topaz, alexandrite, beryl, uvarite and chrysoprase;
• Libra may have ornaments with aquamarine, diamond, aventurine, malachite, green jasper, chrysolite, beryl, topaz and chrysoprase;
• Scorpio astrologers advise aquamarine, turquoise, serpentine, tourmaline, cat's eye, alexandrite, beryl, chrysoprase;
• Sagittarius turquoise, chrysolite, aquamarine, emerald, tourmaline will do;
• Capricorn we need malachite, serpentine, heliotrope, chrysoprase, tourmaline, alexandrite and uvarovit;
• Aquarius You can use aquamarine, turquoise, jade, chrysoprase, chrysolite, amazonite, uvarite, tourmaline;
• Pisces aquamarine, aventurine, emerald, heliotrope, chrysolite, alexandrite, chrysoprase, beryl, tourmaline and uvarovit will help.

In order for the stones to retain useful properties and not lose their attractive appearance, they need proper care.

Keep the stones in places protected from direct sunlight, as some species tend to fade when exposed to the sun. Jewelry is best kept in boxes, upholstered in soft cloth to protect them from mechanical damage. And products with stones that have magical properties should be stored separately, so that they do not affect each other with their energy.

When cleaning products from contamination, it is not recommended to use abrasive and chemical cleaning agents, as some minerals can interact with them. It is best to soak the object in a solution of baby soap, rinse it under running water and wipe it with a soft, lint-free cloth.

For more information about the properties of emerald, see the video below.