Seriously Silver Stone Information N to Z

Obsidian

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Obsidian is a naturally occurring glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock. It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools without crystal growth. Obsidian is commonly found within the margins of rhyolitic lava flows known as obsidian flows, where the chemical composition (high silica content) induces a high viscosity and polymerization degree of the lava. The inhibition of atomic diffusion through this highly viscous and polymerized lava explains the lack of crystal growth. Because of the lack of crystal structure, obsidian blade edges can reach almost molecular thinness, leading to its ancient use as projectile points, and its modern use as surgical scalpel blades.

Onyx

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Onyx is a cryptocrystalline form of quartz. The colours of its bands range from white to almost every colour (save some shades, such as purple or blue). Commonly, specimens of onyx available contain bands of colours of white, tan, and brown. Sardonyx is a variant in which the coloured bands are sard (shades of red) rather than black. Pure black onyx is common, and perhaps the most famous variety, but not as common as onyx with banded colours.

Paua Shell

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It is unique to New Zealand - it is the most colourful shell in the world - it is a species of Abalone (Haliotis Iris).
Paua are primarily caught for their meat, which is a traditional delicacy of the Maori. There is a strict quota system in place to sustain the management of paua fishery.

The real Paua shell material is unique and should not be compared to the cheap blue resin coated paua jewellery that has flooded the market. Our pieces of jewellery only use the real material, taken from thick paua shells and not treated in any way to artificially enhance colours.

All designs use the paua shell as is and explore the magic of this shell. Each shell is different in colour, making every piece of jewellery truly unique. The colours change when viewed from different angles, and it is this iridescence that make paua shell and the jewellery created with it magical!

Pearl

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A pearl is a hard, roundish object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusc. Just like the shell of molluscs, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes of pearls (baroque pearls) occur. The finest quality natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries, and because of this, the word pearl became a metaphor for something very rare, very fine, very admirable and very valuable.

Valuable pearls occur in the wild, but they are very rare. Cultured or farmed pearls make up the majority of those that are currently sold. Pearls from the sea are valued more highly than freshwater pearls. Imitation or fake pearls are also widely sold in inexpensive jewellery, but the quality of the iridescence is usually very poor, and generally speaking, fake pearls are usually quite easy to distinguish from the real thing. Pearls have been harvested, or more recently cultivated, primarily for use in jewellery, but in the past they were also stitched onto lavish clothing, as worn, for example, by royalty. Pearls have also been crushed and used in cosmetics, medicines, or in paint formulations.

Peridot

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Peridot is one of the few gemstones that occur in only one colour: basically an olive green. The intensity and tint of the green however depends on how much iron is contained in the crystal structure, so the colour of individual peridot gems can vary from yellow-green through olive green to brownish green. The most valuable is considered a dark-olive green colour.

Peridot crystals have been collected from some Pallasite meteorites. A famous Pallasite was offered for auction in April 2008 with a requested price of close to $ 3 million at Bonhams, but remained unsold. Peridot is the only gemstone found in meteorites.

Peridot olivine is the birthstone for August. It is sometimes mistaken for emeralds and other green gems. In fact notable gemmologist George Frederick Kunz discussed the confusion between Emeralds and Peridots in many church treasures, notably the "Three Magi" treasure in the Dom of Cologne, Germany.

Pyrites

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The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulphide with the formula FeS2. This mineral's metallic lustre and pale-to-normal, brass-yellow hue have earned it the nickname fool's gold due to its resemblance to gold. Pyrite is the most common of the sulphide minerals. This name is likely due to the sparks that result when pyrite is struck against steel or flint.

Pyrite is usually found associated with other sulphides or oxides in quartz veins, sedimentary rock, and metamorphic rock, as well as in coal beds, and as a replacement mineral in fossils. Despite being nicknamed fool's gold, small quantities of gold are sometimes found associated with pyrite. Gold and arsenic occur as a coupled substitution in the pyrite structure. In the Carlin, Nevada gold deposit, arsenian pyrite contains up to 0.37 wt% gold. Auriferous pyrite is a valuable ore of gold.

Quartz

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Quartz belongs to the rhombohedral crystal system. The ideal crystal shape is a six-sided prism terminating with six-sided pyramids at each end. In nature quartz crystals are often twinned, distorted, or so intergrown with adjacent crystals of quartz or other minerals as to only show part of this shape, or to lack obvious crystal faces altogether and appear massive. Well-formed crystals typically form in a 'bed' that has unconstrained growth into a void, but because the crystals must be attached at the other end to a matrix, only one termination pyramid is present. A quartz geode is such a situation where the void is approximately spherical in shape, lined with a bed of crystals pointing inward.

Rose Quartz

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Pure quartz is colourless or white; common coloured varieties include rose quartz, amethyst, smoky quartz, milky quartz, and others. Quartz goes by an array of different names. The most important distinction between types of quartz is that of macro crystalline (individual crystals visible to the unaided eye) and the microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline varieties (aggregates of crystals visible only under high magnification). The cryptocrystalline varieties are either translucent or mostly opaque, while the transparent varieties tend to be macro crystalline. Chalcedony is a cryptocrystalline form of silica consisting of fine intergrowths of both quartz, and its monoclinic polymorph moganite.

Tiger Shell

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The handsome shell of this fish is recognised by its delicately tapered spire and conspicuous pattern of zigzag reddish-brown stripes. It lives under boulders and ledges in clean water-sheltered situations, but is not common. It grows to 3 in. in diameter. Whangarei Heads, Manukau Heads, Mount Maunganui, and Whanganui Inlet are good localities for this beautiful species.

Tigers Eye

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Tiger's eye (also Tigers eye, Tiger eye) is a chatoyant gemstone that is usually a metamorphic rock that is yellow- to red-brown, with a silky lustre. A member of the quartz group, it is a classic example of pseudomorphous replacement by silica of fibrous crocidolite (blue asbestos). An incompletely silicified blue variant is called Hawk's eye.

The gems are usually cut en cabochon in order to best display their chatoyancy. Red stones are brought about through gentle heat treatment. Honey-coloured stones have been used to imitate the much higher valued cat's eye chrysoberyl (cymophane), but the overall effect is unconvincing. Artificial fiberoptic glass is a common imitation of tiger's eye, and is produced in a wide range of colours. Tiger's Eye mostly comes from South Africa.

Topaz

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Pure topaz is colourless and transparent but is usually tinted by impurities; typical topaz is wine- or straw yellow, pale gray, or pink. They may be made white, gray, pale green, blue, pink or reddish-yellow and transparent or translucent.

Yellow topaz is the traditional November birthstone, the symbol of friendship, and the state gemstone for the US State of Utah.

Blue topaz is the December birthstone and Texas state gemstone. Topaz very rarely occurs blue naturally. Typically, colourless, gray or pale yellow material is heat treated and irradiated in order to turn it blue.

Mystic topaz is colourless topaz which has artificially treated with a thin film/coating giving it the desired rainbow effect, and is not a naturally occurring topaz.

Turquoise

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Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium. It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gem and ornamental stone for thousands of years owing to its unique hue. In recent times turquoise, like most other opaque gems, has been devalued by the introduction of treatments, imitations, and synthetics onto the market, some difficult to detect even by experts.

The substance has been known by many names, but the word turquoise was derived around 16th century from the French language either from the word for Turkish (Turquois) or dark-blue stone (pierre turquin). This may have arisen from a misconception: turquoise does not occur in Turkey but was traded at Turkish bazaars to Venetian merchants who brought it to Europe. The colour, however, has been employed extensively in the decorative tiles adorning Turkish places of worship and homes for hundreds of years, beginning with the Seljuks, or was derived from the colour of the Mediterranean Sea on the southern Turkish coast and the association quite possibly has caused the name to take root.

Zircon

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Zircon is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates. Its chemical name is zirconium silicate and its corresponding chemical formula is ZrSiO4. Hafnium is almost always present in quantities ranging from 1 to 4%. The crystal structure of zircon is tetragonal crystal system. The natural colour of zircon varies between colourless, yellow-golden, red, brown, and green. Colourless specimens that show gem quality are a popular substitute for diamond; these specimens are also known as "Matura diamond". It is not to be confused with cubic zirconia, a synthetic substance with a completely different chemical composition.

The name either derives from the Arabic word zarqun, meaning vermilion, or from the Persian zargun, meaning golden-coloured. These words are corrupted into "jargoon", a term applied to light-coloured zircons. Yellow zircon is called hyacinth, from the flower hyacinths, whose name is of Ancient Greek origin; in the Middle Ages all yellow stones of East Indian origin were called hyacinth, but today this term is restricted to the yellow zircons.

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