In daily life, we can often hear some interesting gemstone nicknames, such as calling sodium feldspar jade "water foam", calling water calcium garnet "tumbler", zircon "hyacinth stone" and so on. So is there a name for a natural gemstone that is very interesting or connotative, and the answer is of course yes. Let's take a look at some of the rare gemstones with interesting names today.
Blue Square
Blue ashlar belongs to the sodalite mineral, the production is very rare, its bright blue is currently only produced in the Eiffel Mountain region of Germany, in the form of round grains, and the output particles are extremely small, most of which are less than one carat, basically can only be seen in the hands of collectors.
Blue ashlar has a lower hardness, and most blue square has a hardness of no more than 6 on the Mohs scale, resulting in it being easier to wear out in the air.
Figure 1: Blue Ashlar
Taffy Stone
Tafi stone is a silicate mineral that is considered "a gemstone rarer than a diamond." Commonly light purple, it was often confused with spinel in the early days and was not identified as a new gemstone until after the 1950s. The name tafi stone is said to derive from its discoverer, the Irish gemologist Earl Taaffe. Due to the scarcity of production, tafi stone is currently mostly stored in the hands of major laboratories and collectors, and there is little circulation on the market.
Figure 2: Taffy Stone
monazite
The solitary stone feels very lonely when it hears the name, in fact, its name is indeed derived from its frequent existence as a single crystal. Monazite is a rare earth mineral, and because its composition often contains uranium, thorium, radium and other elements and radioactive, although in general the radioactivity of monazite is very weak, but a large number of mining monazite will lead to its harmful to the environment, so many countries have banned a large number of mining monazite. Monazite crystals are bright in color, high in transparency, have a strong glass luster, and tend to produce bright fluorescence under ultraviolet fluorescence, so high-quality monazite is a very precious collection.
Figure 3: Monazite
Stinky shallot stone
Just by listening to the name, I guessed that the stinky onion stone must be a stone with a taste. Indeed, allium lycopene is an arsenic acid mineral that emits a garlic odor when heated or tapped, and its name comes from the Greek word "skorodon", which means "garlic flavor". Allium often has a bright green and blue-green color; gem-quality allium is often found in Brazil and Namibia. The Mohs hardness of stinky onion stone is extremely low, only about 3.5, far lower than most of the daily necessities in our daily life, so it is very easy to be scratched, so gem-grade stinky onion stone is often only used for collection. In addition, stinky onion stone was also used to refine arsenic in ancient China.
Figure 4: Stinky onion stone
Fake sapphire
Fake sapphire does not mean "fake sapphire", but this mineral is indeed called "fake sapphire". Fake sapphires are not only similar Chinese name to sapphires, but their English name "sapphirin" is also very close to sapphire " sapphire " , but false sapphires are much rarer than "real" sapphires. Fake sapphires often have a grayish blue or blue-green hue and were first found in Sri Lanka. Due to the scarcity of production, fake sapphires are rarely circulated in the market, often among collectors and research institutions.
Figure 5: Fake sapphires
Sai Citrine
From the name sounds like it feels that xanthan gyramine is a gemstone to "compete" with citrine, in fact, the name of xanthrene and natural citrine do not have much direct relationship, it is said that because the crystal form of xanthan gyramine and the mineral crystal form of topaz (topaz) are somewhat similar. Saihuangjing is a kind of boron-containing calcium-containing silicate, and our common saihuangjing crystals are often short columnar, and most of them are complete at one end and the other end is broken. Most of the xanthan crystal is gray opaque and cannot be used as a gemstone, but a small amount of xanthoblast can show a bright golden yellow color, and the transparency is very high, very beautiful. Gem-grade citrine is produced so little and produces crystals that are generally small, so its owners often do not process it, but retain only their original crystalline form for collection purposes.
Figure 6: Citrine
Well, today I followed the editor to understand six rare gemstones with earth or foreign, or literary or connotative names, and I must also think that the gem family is very interesting. In fact, the gem family has more than these gemstones with interesting names, and the next time Xiaobian will take you to understand other gems with interesting names and special meaning names, you must not miss it.
Author: Wang Yang
Source: National Hetian Jade Inspection Center