AMAZONITE
Other names: Amazonstone, Tianhe stone
Amazonite, also known as Amazonstone, is a green or blue-green variety of the potassium feldspar called microcline. Its chemical formula is KAlSi3O8.
Amazonite. Image from Wikimedia Commons.
The name of the stone is taken from the Amazon River, from which green stones were formerly obtained, though it is unknown whether those stones were amazonite. It has been used for jewellery for well over three thousand years, as attested by archaeological finds in Middle and New Kingdom Egypt and Mesopotamia, but it was first described as a distinct mineral only in the 18th century.
Amazonite from Ethiopia. Image from Wikimedia Commons by Parent Gรจry.
It has been described as a "beautiful crystallized variety of a bright verdigris-green" and as possessing a "lively green colour." For many years, the source of amazonite's color was a mystery. Some people assumed the color was due to copper because copper compounds often have blue and green colors, with other studies suggesting the colors are associated with the increasing content of lead, rubidium, and thallium.
Amazonite from Burma (Myanmar). Image from Wikimedia Commons by Robert M. Lavinsky.
Amazonite is a mineral of limited occurrence. In Bronze Age Egypt, it was mined in the southern Eastern Desert at Gebel Migif. In early modern times, it was obtained almost exclusively from the area of Miass in the Ilmensky Mountains, Russia, where it occurs in granitic rocks. Amazonite is now known to occur in various places around the globe, for example in China, Libya, Mongolia, South Africa, Sweden and United States.
High-quality beads of amazonite (7 and 12 mm) from China.
๐ข Amazonite - Wikipedia
๐ข Amazonite value, price and jewelry information (gemsociety.org)
Stone info masterpost
