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Moonstone Information
Moonstone is a popular stone, it is a variety from the orthoclase Feldspar mineral family, Moonstone are characterized by an attractive iridescence under certain light condition, that exhibit a beautiful sheen that resemble the moonlight, this phenomenal is the origin of the stone name and is called by gemologist “adularescence”.
Adularescence optical phenomenon, a sort of color play or iridescence, is caused by a unique structure pattern into the Moonstone crystal, usually mined with translucent or opaque clarity, transparent Moonstone are more rare and considered the more valuable.
It is an abundant material and its price is quite affordable and inexpensive, but is considered very attractive till the ancient times. This stone variety is considered a very nice material to create jewel with affordable price, but sometimes the best gemstones can be used in high end jewelry, like did the popular jeweler Renè Lalique that used Moonstone for some of its master pieces.
White transparent colorless Moonstone with adularescence are the most valuable, but also Moonstones with a bluish color sheen are very much in demand and are more valuable then the other types with different body colors like: Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Brown, Pink, Purple, Gray.
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Healing Properties
It is an old stone, well known by the ancient people that consider Moonstone a magical and sacred stone able to bring good fortune, peace, love, calm.
Associated with the Moon and the Pisces zodiac sign, natural Moonstone is also the June birthstone, is also considered a mystical stone with some sort of magical power, some thought that wear it during a full moon can reveal the future of the wearer.
It is also considered a good stone for crystal therapy and healing, especially if the stone is directly in contact with the skin, Moonstone is able to alleviate pain from headache and backache.
Treatment
Any kind of treatment are found on Moonstone, so it is considered a safe gemstone to purchase, without scam or fraud with protagonist this stone. Abundant and affordable it is not synthesized or enhanced in anyway.
Any of the common treatment like heat or irradiation treatment process are actually applied to Moonstone to enhance its attractiveness.
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Origin and gemstone source
Like said before, this material is abundant and can be mined in huge quantity and large size from different countries, like: Brazil, Australia, Mexico, Africa (Madagascar, Tanzania), Germany and Switzerland, Norway and United States, but the most precious and valuable material comes from: Sri Lanka, Mogok Burma, India.
Optical Effect
Adularescence is the original and unique optical effect of Moonstone, but in some rare case this stone can display chatoyancy (Cat’s Eye Moonstone) and asterism (rarest) with four rays star for the Star Moonstone.
Images and photos
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Uses
Usually shaped and polished into cabochon, to maximize the adularescence effect of the stone, some stones can also be found on the market faceted in some popular shape. The lower graded stones are used to make beads, briolette, rondelle, chips or carved into sculptures.
Care and Cleaning
This is not a real hard stone, with an hardness pair of 6-6.5 on the Mohs hardness mineral scale is softer than quartz and easily scratched by other harder stones, it also suffer the pressure and can easily crack or chip when set into a jewel. If you are a jeweler, a silversmith or a stone setter, avoid to exposure it to excessive temperatures, chemical products like acids, don’t clean your gemstone with steam or ultrasonic machine.
Remember to store your gemstone separately from other harder gemstones like Ruby or Sapphire, but also Topaz, Beryl and Quartz, clean it with soapy water and dry it with a soft cloth.
Scam and Fraud
This kind of gemstone is considered an abundant material with affordable price so no evident scam or fraud are registered until now, only in some recent cases there are found gemstones coated to improve their color and appearance, but this kind of treated stones are really hard to find.
It is considered a safe gemstone to purchase without occurring in popular scam or fraud.
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Typical Internal Inclusions
A unique pattern inclusions in the crystal are the cause of the beauty optical effect of adularescence, where the surface of the stone assume a beauty sheen caused by the light refraction on the internal crystals. Observing Moonstone at microscope can be very interesting and you can easily see the different strate of Feldspar and silicate in a lamellar pattern with some tiny inclusions of Albite.
Gemological Info
- Mineral family: Feldspar (Plagioclase, orthoclase)
- Crystal: Monoclinic Prismatic
- Density: 2.56 – 2.62
- Hardness: 6 – 6.5
- Refractive index: 1.518 – 1.526
- Optic Character: Biaxial negative
- Color: Many (White Colorless, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Brown, Pink, Purple, Gray)
- Optical effect: Adularescence
- Luster: Vitreous to pearly
- Clarity: Transparent to Opaque
- Fluorescent: Weak
- Fracture: Uneven
- Cleavage: Perfect
- Durability: Medium
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