Vintage green peridot loose faceted gemstones, a lovely matched pair of round brilliant cut stones weighing 3.40 carats and measuring 7.1 x 5.0 mm. These gems are glassy and eye clean, and extremely bright.

Peridot is the gem variety of a mineral called olivine (the name alludes to the typical brownish-green olive color). Olivine forms when magma (molten rock) emerges from a volcano and cools and solidifies into rock. If this rock (called basalt) forms on a volcanic island and disintegrates under weathering, the olivine grains are released and may accumulate along shorelines. In Hawaii there are actually beaches made of olivine sand! Basalt also often contains dark colored minerals, and tiny grains of these may be trapped within the olivine as it forms. Microscopic black inclusions are very common in peridot. The quality grade of the material is largely a function of their abundance and visibility. Clouds of these very tiny dark mineral inclusions can produce a soft "glow" that also diffuses the color and can be very attractive.

Peridot is the birthstone for August. It occurs worldwide and is rare in large sizes (over 10 carats) but cut gems weighing more than 100 carats have been produced. In the U.S.A. peridot occurs on the San Carlos Apache Indian reservation in southern Arizona. The material from this locality has a "warm" (yellowish) tint compared to peridot from Burma, Pakistan and other places. A few localities are known in Arizona that yield very small amounts of dark green peridot with a superb hue, almost completely lacking the brown tinge that produces an olive color, and much darker than the typical San Carlos material. Cut stones of this peridot are distinctive and very rare, and carry the trade name "verdante peridot".

These vintage stones were custom-cut for Joel from Arizona rough and we guarantee them to be from the 1970s. The cutting is exceptional and the stones have great brilliancy.

► One of the photographs shows one of the several books that Joel has written. The Color Encyclopedia of Gemstones has for more than 30 years been the world's most authoritative source of information on (and pictures of) gemstones.
Book not included in purchase! ◀