If you go to a jewelry mall and see all kinds of jewelry on the counter, will you feel dazzled? Not only do they come in a variety of colors and styles, but their names feel fancy, such as green chalcedony, red chalcedony, Australian jade, sapphire jade, and blood drop stone... Do you know what they are? In fact, they are all the same gem chalcedony.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > ancient jade</h1>
Chalcedony, also known as chalcedony, seems to imply the meaning of "the essence of jade". A long time ago it was an ordinary piece of jade. Scholars once found a seal made of chalcedony in the ruins of a Minoan palace in Crete. It dates back to about 1800 BC. Later, various chalcedony artifacts were often found on Central Asian trade routes. The English name chalcedony comes from the Greek name of a small town in Asia Minor.
It is said that this gemstone has an invisible power and is loved by warriors. The famous Alexander the Great of ancient times, he once unified the whole territory of Greece, also traveled through the Middle East, he also destroyed the ancient Persian Empire, and then his army also invaded the vicinity of the Indus Valley. Surprisingly, he died prematurely without conquering India. Some believe that Alexander the Great's death was caused by malaria or typhoid fever, while others believe he was poisoned to death; a more dramatic and legendary theory is that Alexander the Great bathed in the river after the Great War with India. While he was in the bath, a snake snatched the "Amulet Gem" he had worn for many years, which was a piece of green chalcedony, and since the amulet was snatched, he lost the protection of the "Amulet", which led to the military genius's untimely death.
Of course, most legends have no scientific basis, but the legends reveal the love and respect people have for chalcedony. As early as 1977, Archaeologists in China discovered a historic World Trade Site in Shenmu County and other areas of Shaanxi Province. It is a ruin of an urban site from the late Neolithic period to the beginning of summer, with a long history of about 4,000 years. Archaeologists have found a large number of exquisite jade artifacts at the World Trade Site, a considerable part of which is made of chalcedony. This proves that as early as 4,000 years ago, chalcedony was Chinese favorite jade variety. If people use chalcedony as a tool, it will take even longer. Archaeologists have found many Paleolithic knocking stones in The Areas of Lhasa, Shigatse, Ali and Nagqu in Tibet. Most are black angular shale, but occasionally there are flint, obsidian, and chalcedony. However, ancient humans only took advantage of the hard physical properties of chalcedony and did not regard it as exquisite jade.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > crystal's brother</h1>
Chalcedony is a gemstone with a hardness value of 6.6 to 7.1 on the Mohs scale, even a little higher than the hardness of crystal. In terms of chemical composition, it is essentially the same as crystals. The main component is quartz group silica; however, their structure is very different. As we all know, when silica crystallines perfectly, the crystal is quartz. It has a very regular crystal structure inside. Crystal particles can be distinguished by the naked eye, so they are called crystal structures; the mineral crystals inside the chalcedony are so small that even under a polarized microscope, the naked eye cannot distinguish mineral particles, so they are called cryptocrystalline minerals. In nature, if there are more suitable physical conditions, chalcedony can change into microcrystalline quartz, and then crystallize into quartz.
Most mineralogists have long agreed that chalcedony has a relatively homogeneous composition; however, recent studies have found that ordinary chalcedony usually contains another mineral called zeolite, which has a mass percentage of between 5% and 20%. Oblique zeolite is also composed of silica, which is a homogeneous polymorph of quartz.
Chalcedony is not a precious jade. Its origin is similar to that of quartz. The difference between them is that if the temperature and pressure in nature are low, chalcedony will form slowly; if the temperature and pressure become relatively high, quartzite will form. However, this process is very long and needs to be calculated in 10,000 years. Chalcedony gemstones are produced in large quantities, it is also one of the largest jade varieties in the world, the market price is relatively low (because of the large production), and chalcedony is also known as "the most people-friendly jade". There are many countries in the world that have large chalcedony mines, such as the United States, Brazil, Russia, India, Germany and so on. There are also many regions in China that have famous chalcedony deposits.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" > a variety of colors</h1>
Most natural chalcedony is translucent to opaque. It comes in a wide variety of colors, but also in a wide variety, of which agate is the most common. In fact, agate and chalcedony belong to the same thing, and their chemical and physical properties are almost the same; however, agate generally has a distinct band structure or bright color patterns. People are accustomed to separating agate according to these characteristics; but in fact, there is no very strict boundary between chalcedony and agate.
In addition to agate, the color of chalcedony can also be divided into carnelian chalcedony, chalcedony, chalcedony, chalcedony, chalcedony and so on. This is because there are many different elements in chalcedony that cause color changes.
Green chalcedony, the main color is green, but there is a big difference between them. For example, chrome chalcedony is emerald and chalcedony is green or dark green. There is a variety in the jewellery market called "Australian jade". Its color is light green or blue-green. In fact, it is also a green chalcedony, but it shows a special color because it contains a small amount of nickel. Because of the similarity of the appearance of chalcedony to jadeite, unscrupulous merchants often used it to impersonate jadeite in the market.
In the fault fissure of the mountain range on the east coast of Taiwan Province, a blue-to-blue-green chalcedony was produced. Since the 1960s, it has gradually entered the jewelry market and is sold at home and abroad. This chalcedony contains a small amount of silica malachite. Not only does it have a special color, but it also has few sources. Taiwan produces the best texture, so it is called "Taiwan Sapphire".
Crimson, orange-red, and reddish-brown chalcedony is carnelian chalcedony. Blood chalcedony, especially green chalcedony with red spots, looks like blood droplets, so it is also called "blood drop stone". It is a fine craft material. Skilled craftsmen like to use their natural combination of red and green to skillfully carve some flowers, birds, insects and fish. This chalcedony is also popular abroad. North America and some European countries use it as a lucky stone for March, symbolizing honesty, wisdom, and courage.
In recent years, a new variety known as "chalcedony" has emerged on the market. It is native to Madagascar. It is moist, white and delicate. It is also similar to mutton fat jade. Because it contains "inclusions" inside, it can form some of the more interesting patterns, such as flowers, birds, landscapes, and people. The production of this chalcedony is not large, and most of the raw materials will be shipped to China for processing and sales.
Almost all of the chalcedony gemstones we see on the market have been dyed and optimized. The "optimization" mentioned here is different from "processing". The optimization methods of gemstones and jade are usually heat treatment, colorless oil immersion, wax soaking, bleaching, etc., which can improve the appearance of gemstones and jade, stable and durable, without adding any foreign objects; the treatment methods of precious jade are usually irradiation, coating or coating, filling or bleaching, immersion in painted oil or color wax, etc., although the appearance of precious jade is improved, but foreign objects are added, and the effect is unstable and not lasting. The optimization of chalcedony has long been accepted, so you don't have to worry too much about whether it is optimized or not.