When green is not just green
When thinking of green gemstones, emerald often comes to mind as one of the most valuable. But did you know there are many other green gemstones that deserve attention for their distinctive and totally unique beauty?
Peridot, from the olivine family, is known for its pale, “Granny Smith” apple-green hue. Its inclusions, resembling floating lily pads, are the result of stress fractures formed under extreme pressure within the Earth. These inclusions can give the stone a slightly “greasy” look, adding to its character.
Tourmaline, which can appear in a variety of colours like pink, turquoise, and brown, is most famous in its green form. Typically, this stone exhibits a deep olive-green shade, with the fascinating ability to display two different tones of green depending on the light—a phenomenon known as pleochroism. There is also a ‘watermelon tourmaline’ which can be half pink and half green – just like a watermelon!
Garnet, often thought of as a red gemstone, also comes in stunning shades of pink, purple, orange and green. With green garnets, the colours are known as tsavorite garnet, chrome diopside and demantoid. The rarest is demantoid garnet, found only in Russia’s Ural Mountains. Known for its vibrant lime-green colour, demantoid is distinguished by its unique “horsetail” inclusions because it looks identical to a splayed horses tail. Its rarity, particularly in larger sizes, makes it comparable in value to fine emeralds. In the Victorian era, tiny garnets were often used in brooches, where their pave setting mimicked the scales of lizards and other creatures.
These green gemstones offer a unique alternative to emerald, each with its own fascinating characteristics.
Originally published in the Purbeck Gazette on 25th November 2024.
