Sardonyx is the father of stones. Rock crystal is an ice symphony. Epidote - mineral pistachio delicacy

Jewelry with stones look amazing and delight the eye. But there are stones that can be safely called the most unusual and beautiful.

So, the top 10 most beautiful stones in the world

1. Alexandrite- This is a variety of a rather rare mineral chrysoberyl. The uniqueness of such a stone lies in its pleochroism. In simple words, alexandrite can change color, and such changes simply excite the imagination and amaze.

So, in daylight it will delight the eye with different shades of green (grass, turquoise, olive), but under artificial lighting it can be raspberry, purple or even red-violet. This unique ability is explained by the fact that an extremely rare combination of minerals such as chromium, titanium and iron is found in alexandrite.

2. Painite belongs to the class of borates. This stone was discovered in 1956, and until recently there were only a few copies in the world, but in 2006 a new deposit was discovered. By the way, this mineral is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the rarest. The color of painite can vary from red-orange to brown-red.

This color scheme is explained by the content of iron impurities in the mineral. The last crystals found are almost opaque and have dark tones. By the way, if you look at painite under the light of an ordinary lamp, it will turn green. And this is his distinguishing feature, which will reveal the original. But still, it is almost impossible to get a real painite.

3. Benitoite. Such a stone was found only in the USA, so it is also considered one of the rarest. But at the same time, he is also incredibly beautiful. Under normal lighting, the color will be deep blue. But if you direct ultraviolet rays at benitoite, you can see a stunning picture. The stone will glow from the inside, as if LEDs were placed in it.

Such a unique property still does not have any clear explanation, although the composition of the mineral has been thoroughly studied for a long time. Since 1984, this stone has been considered a national gem in California. And its price can reach 4 thousand dollars per carat!

4. Red diamond. In the entire history of mankind, only a few of these minerals have been found, because the red tint for diamonds is considered extremely rare. Only a few jewelers were lucky enough to hold this miracle of nature in their hands, and even more so to work with it.

The largest specimen, which is known as the Red Shield, weighs a little more than 5 carats (which is almost 1 gram), and this weight, of course, is negligible compared to ordinary white diamonds (their mass can reach 600 carats). Currently, searches are underway, but still it has not been possible to find deposits.

5. Red beryl. If you look at the photo, you can see a stunningly beautiful stone of a bright scarlet hue with a purple tint, shimmering in the light. It is incredibly durable and even when heated to 1000 degrees Celsius retains its properties.

Such a mineral is mined exclusively in the USA, and only in one state (Utah). Until recently, red beryl was available only to the wealthiest and most famous collectors, but to this day it remains quite rare and very expensive. The largest specimen weighs approximately 10 carats, which is about 2 grams.

6. Blue pomegranate. In general, everyone is used to the fact that the pomegranate has a purple hue (probably, for this it got its name). But in fact, the tones of this mineral can be varied. The most common are red, pink, brown, black, orange, yellow. Green, purple are much less common.

And blue is the rarest and one of the most beautiful. In daylight, such a stone pleases the eye with various shades of blue-green. But if you look at it under a lamp, it can turn dark purple.

7. Grandidierite. This is one of the rarest minerals on the planet (it is in the top ten). The deposit is only in Madagascar, but the very first and, most likely, the purest specimen was found in Sri Lanka.

There are very few crystals suitable for cutting, only a few cut stones are known in the world. Grandidierite is pleochroic, that is, it can change color from almost transparent or light green to deep green or even blue. The color will depend on the viewing angle and lighting.

8. Padparadscha. This unusual word is translated as "morning dawn" or "sunrise". Indeed, this stone, which, by the way, belongs to sapphires, has a stunning pinkish-orange color, which is similar to the morning sun barely showing over the horizon.

Deposits of this unique mineral are found in Sri Lanka, Madagascar and Tanzania. But today all copies have been retrieved, and the last and one of the cleanest was sold 20 years ago. The stone is considered collectible, and one carat of weight is estimated at 30 thousand dollars.

9. Powdertit. The first minerals were discovered in Canada, and the stone itself got its name from the Pudrett family, which, by the way, still owns the mine. The first mineral was extracted in 1987, but truly pure and high-quality specimens appeared only in the early 2000s. Powdertite has a delicate light pink hue. But it is unlikely that an ordinary person will be able to look at it, since there are only about 300 minerals in the world.

10. Taaffeite- a mineral that was discovered by Count Richard Taaffe (the stone was named after him), finding it in a batch of gems. The shade of this stone can vary from pale pink to lavender, and it shimmers amazingly in the light.

Such a mineral is found only in Tanzania and Sri Lanka. But still, the deposits are negligible, so the total number of specimens is small. The largest stone weighs more than 9 carats, and the cost of one carat varies from 2 to 10 thousand dollars.

These were the most amazing stones in the world.

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• Aventurine - a sparkling stone of good luck

  See all Aventurine products>>> This capricious lady is the most welcome guest for any man and any woman; she has neither age nor face, but in all ages she was eagerly awaited, bowing before her greatness. It comes by chance, and leaves unexpectedly, on the sly, it is impossible to predict it, nor to subordinate it to the laws of human logic - it obeys only the unknown strings of Rock. Her name is luck, the one to whom she favors today is happy, those who are not endowed with her attention are invariably unhappy, because she can be stronger than power and knowledge, than even love itself. In order to bring closer the sweet moment of meeting with her, people have long resorted to means as irrational and mystical as she herself - who put a four-leaf clover in a shoe, who decorated clothes with hieroglyphic embroidery, who strictly observed folk omens who was looking for a fern flower on a summer night ... However, since ancient times it has been known that the surest way to invite good luck into your life is magic ...

• Agalmatolite - the beauty of simplicity

  View all Agalmatolite products>>> When a primitive man was first able to turn stone into arrowheads, ax and knife blades, his life became noticeably easier. Less time was spent on repairing weapons, women could cope with household chores faster. People have free time. And, probably, it was then, in the first short hours of leisure, that the primitive craftsman decided to carve out of stone the scenes of a particularly difficult hunt, which ended in the victory of people. A victory that might not have been if it were not for the deadly flint spear and arrowheads that can pierce the thickest skin. Thus began the friendship of man and stone, which grew stronger from century to century, opened up new facets, shone with all colors, developed into legends and traditions, and most importantly, did not dry out. People have learned to turn even the most ordinary-looking minerals into beauty. Diamonds are great in settings, but when it comes to carving a cameo, sculpture, or embossed bangle, they...

• Agate - striped happiness

  View all agate products>>> Some biased jewelry lovers say that they recognize only rare and fabulously expensive stones - they say, the more unique and unusual the insert, the more they like the jewelry. However, it seems that this approach is fundamentally wrong - after all, among the gems there are no first and lagging behind, and common and affordable stones are often no less, but even more attractive than rare minerals, fragile and full of flaws, which often turn out to be also synthetic. The beauty of a stone is a thing that is not measured in arbitrary units and is measured only by people's love, therefore those gems that have received such love are truly priceless. And it is not always necessary to look for foreign and "unique" stones - famous and native gems sometimes turn out to be "familiar strangers", fraught with a lot of pleasant surprises, because the world of gems is a place about which it is impossible to learn everything. And an example of this point of view is our old friend, about whom ...

• Azurite is the source of the blue color

  View all products from Azurite>>> Today, colors surround us everywhere, and it seems that it is so natural - blue, purple, red, yellow, green shades, either repeating natural ones, or surpassing them in brightness and pungency, the color has entered the life of every person so firmly that entire psychological works are devoted to the perception of this or that tone, and depending on the inclination of our acquaintances to gray or white, brown or crimson, we try to guess their character and personality type. It is hard to imagine that once the situation was diametrically opposite - a person saw a color around him, but, of course, he could not isolate it from the green sea waters or the orange flame, so there was no talk of any riot of colors. So it was until the moment when some brilliant artisan did not pay attention to the source of color, lying very close by - to minerals, of all natural formations, which have the most diverse ...

• Aquamarine - born from sea foam

  See all Aquamarine products>>> The sea – great, eternal, ancient, like the Earth itself, which has seen the rise and fall of hundreds of great empires – has long attracted a person like a magnet. Probably, there is no one on our planet who, having once seen the waves licking yellow sand, would not fall in love with their deep blueness, who would not put a twisted shell to his ear in order to hear the incessant whisper of the surf thousands of kilometers from the water surface ... The sea inspired many artists, writers and philosophers, and there is nothing surprising in the fact that among the endless expanses of semi-precious placers there was a stone in which ancient people saw an amazing, mystical resemblance to sea ​​waters, and even called it “sea water” - as Pliny wrote, “its color resembles the pure green of sea waters” ... From the dossier: Aquamarine is a transparent variety of beryl, the color is due to the presence of an impurity of iron (Fe). Hardness 6.5-8 on the Mohs scale,...

• Actinolite - radiant stone

  View all products from Actinolite>>> It's no secret that the richest imagination is not in man, but in nature. Only she can boldly create something that will endlessly please the eye and amaze the imagination. It would seem, in what way can the light, elusive nature of a sunbeam find a connection, and the hardness, tangibility and monumentality of a stone? Such an interweaving of grace and constancy is a mineral called actinolite. People called it the radiant stone. From the Greek "actis" is translated as a ray, and "lithos" is a stone. It's all about its structure, appearance and properties, which we want to tell you about. From the dossier: This is a mineral from the group of amphiboles, rich in iron, a member of the tremolite-actinolite series. Glitter stone has from glass to silky. Hardness 5.5 - 6 on the Mohs scale. Density 3.1 - 3.3 g/cm3. Other names for the mineral and its varieties: tremolite, stibolite, stranite, smaragdite, emerald spar....

• Diamond - the hardest, most valuable, most beautiful

  View all products from Diamond>>> This stone has been on everyone's lips since its appearance in the complex fabric of history. It cannot be surpassed either in hardness, or in the beauty of the play of light on the edges, or in high price and demand. If other gems either appear or disappear on the jewelry scene, then the vain fashion has no power over him - he was loved, loved and will be loved, probably forever. It looks great next to any stone, it was set in both gold and steel - it seems that our hero is simply not capable of getting lost against any background. After all, its purpose is to be the first and the most-most-most, yesterday, today and always. Well, of course, you have already guessed who we are talking about?.. From the dossier: Diamond is a mineral, crystalline carbon. Hardness 10.0 on the Mohs scale, density 3.5 g/cm3. Other names: farius, adamas, eagle stone, royal stone, adamant, diamond, king. Diamond appeared in Europe already in the 5th-6th centuries BC.

• Almandine - fiery carbuncle

  View all products from Almandine>>> If you think that fashion, which dictates a clear external framework, is the product of an exclusively modern, capricious and materialistic world of consumption, then you are deeply mistaken: the craving for a certain style in clothing and the selection of jewelry has been known since ancient times, and even though we and it seems that the customs of a particular country are homogeneous, in fact, every century brought something new with it or returned to a well-forgotten old one, and such concepts as “vintage” or “new fad” existed both in the era of the pyramids and in deaf Middle Ages. Therefore, today, having seen a previously unfamiliar gem, one should not be surprised - for example, the popular tones of precious stones now gravitate towards cold and thick, as well as whitish hues, while some six or eight centuries ago in Russia, the fashion was surprisingly similar: pearl threads, massive inserts of rock crystal and amethyst, large olivines, emeralds and sapphires next to blue ...

• Amazonite - the secret of the female soul

  See all Amazonite products>>> The ancient world - majestic, beautiful, mysterious - has not yet revealed all its secrets to researchers, and still many records in the works of the great scientists of antiquity Ptolemy, Herodotus and Pliny that have survived to this day evoke modern human bewildered smile. It is difficult to believe in the existence of a unicorn, a mythical animal whose horn neutralizes poisons, or to imagine a fire-breathing dragon... But next to information about magical creatures, there are records of other things - much more prosaic and having the right to exist, but still not backed by no scientific evidence. This is precisely the legend about the kingdom of the Amazons - a matriarchal female state, where the weaker sex gained amazing strength, and women instead of men fought enemies in merciless battles. Little is known about the mysterious beautiful warriors, but one of the legends says that...

• Amethyst - heady mind

  View all products from Amethyst>>> A long time ago, when the gods still roamed the earth, the beautiful nymph Amethys lived in ancient Greece - an eternally young deity of nature. And she was so beautiful, so graceful, that the frivolous god of fun and winemaking, Dionysus, fell in love with her passionately. However, Ametis rejected his courtship - she was nicer to a simple young shepherd. In anger, Dionysus chased the unfortunate woman through the valleys and forests for a long time, wanting to force her to share his feelings, and the nymph called the goddess of hunting Artemis for help. She turned the girl into a statue of white stone, and Dionysus, finally catching up with the fugitive, found only a dead stone. In desperation, he tried to revive his beloved by dousing her with wine and grape juice - and at the same moment the statue turned from a white deep purple color, sparkled in the sun with a purple sheen ... So, according to an old legend, one of the most beautiful stones on earth was born , who, as if in memory of the history of his "birth", ...

• Ametrine - a stone of peace of mind

  Back in the 17th century, the queen of Spain was presented with an outlandish two-color stone, it was ametrine. She was so impressed by the unusual beauty of the gem that she made it the main decoration of her toilet. Ametrine was discovered by a conquistador. Having taken a local girl as his wife, the youngest daughter of the ruler, he received a cave with a stone deposit as a dowry. Noting the magnificent combination of colors with an inexhaustible variety of shades, having returned to his homeland, the Spanish conqueror presented the stone to the royal court. The stone quickly won the hearts of all Europeans with its sophistication, elegance and low cost. Jewelers are happy to work with him to this day, because, by processing a stone, they can show their highest skill. The stone can be rectangular, then you can see a clear border between the colors of the stone, if you give the ametrine a diamond cut, thanks to the play of light on the edges of the stone, you will see a rainbow of colors on each side of the gem. Ametrine -...

• Anhydrite - devoid of moisture

  See all anhydrite products>>> Water is the eternal basis of being, the source of life on Earth. You can live for a long time without a roof over your head and even without food, but without water a person will not last even a few days - after all, our body itself consists of seventy percent water, and in babies, the proportion of moisture reaches eighty-five percent! Water - covering three-quarters of the globe, feeding plants that give our planet oxygen according to generally accepted scientific theories, once it was in the water that the first protobacteria appeared, which, as a result of the evolutionary process, gave the world all known forms of life, including humans. Therefore, not only people contain water - trees, birds, plants, earth, even sand and stones have a larger or smaller proportion of H2O in their structure. Gems did not escape this fate either - only the moisture in most of them has a different, modified structure, joining the composition of the stone in the form of crystallized molecules, ...

• Andalusite - a stone that brings you closer to God

  See all Andalusite products>>> The era of Aquarius that is rapidly advancing on us makes many people think about the meaning of human existence, arouses the desire to learn the language of the universe in order to understand the signs that it tirelessly sends to people in the hope of being heard. But humanity has spent so many centuries in wars and in an effort to facilitate its existence with technical innovations that it has practically forgotten how to understand the land on which it lives. For harmony with the world, for revealing its secrets, we need guides, helpers. Precious stones served as such conductors for many centuries, and andalusite is one of the strongest in this regard. Andalusite is one of the most beautiful, rare and elite gemstones. It occurs as clear red-green crystals, which, once cut, can attract the attention of gemstone connoisseurs. From the dossier: By chemical composition Andalusite is a silicate...

• Apatite is a deceiver with a good soul

  View all products from Apatite>>> Deception is considered to be something bad and unworthy, bearing only bad consequences for both the deceiver and the deceived. There is, of course, such a thing as a lie for the good, although many cannot agree with this. In the same article, we will introduce you to a beautiful and devoted deceiver. Our earth keeps in its bowels an amazing mineral apatite, which can be translated from Greek as “I deceive” or “deceiver”. It got its name due to its many types, which can be easily confused with other stones. He turns into them like a chameleon. Most often, apatite is confused with aquamarine, amethyst, beryl, diopside and tourmaline. Like the various appearances, the deceiver stone also has many names. In Spain, for example, it is called "Asparagus Stone" for its greenish-yellow color. And the Norwegians, meeting blue and bluish-green crystals of apatite, gave it the name "Moroxite". From...

• Aragonite is a stone of a strong loving family

  See all Aragonite products>>> The theme of love is the eternal theme of humanity. Love permeates our entire world. Inspired by her, artists, musicians and poets create their brilliant masterpieces, confectioners, jewelers and gardeners work on gifts for lovers, and architects and builders build houses in which their children then grow up and learn lessons. But, unfortunately, not everything is so sweet in our world. Lovers quarrel among themselves and with family members, cease to understand each other and their children, move away, become embittered, close. Someone goes into drunkenness, someone goes on a spree, and someone simply disagrees with his beloved in different directions. And it seems that there is no magic wand that could forever keep a strong and harmonious family ... There may be no wand, but there is one beautiful stone called aragonite, which for many centuries has been considered the guardian angel of human love and the family hearth . But first things first!...

• Argillite - the mascot of the Canadian Indians

  See all Argillite products>>> Many years ago, people like us lived on earth, only their skin color was a little brighter. They hunted, believed in spirits, and appreciated everything that nature gives them. We used to imagine them as red-skinned strong men with a hunting bow in their hands and a crown of feathers on their heads. Little remains of their culture after European colonization. But what we managed to save surprises us so far. For example, their talismans and ways of interacting with the other world. In this article we will talk about one of the stones, which is famous in Canada as a talisman stone of the ancient Indian tribes. His name is argillite. The name of this stone can be translated as clay stone. It comes from the Greek word "?rgillos", which means "clay" and "l?thos" - "stone". Other names for the mineral and its varieties sound like zebra stone, mud stone, mudstone, or ha-ilite. This is a solid...

• Astrophilite - man's stellar friend

  See all Astrophilite products>>> In everyday life, we are surrounded by many stones that we know so little about. Often, having a stone countertop in the kitchen, or putting a candle in a stone candlestick, we do not think about the fact that each stone is strictly individual and has a certain effect on each of us. One of the stones we often meet in everyday life is astrofilite. We want to get to know him better. The name of this stone is translated from Greek as "star stone". It is called so because it contains the phenomenon of asterism or stellation, i.e. astrofilite has an optical effect, manifesting itself in the form of a three-, four-, six- or even twelve-ray star. From the dossier: Astrophilite has a golden yellow, orange, or brown color. Opaque, translucent only in thin fragments. Glass luster with a pearly sheen. Density 3.3 - 3.4 g/cm3. Hardness 2 - 3 on the Mohs scale....

• Balin is a character worthy of respect

  See all products from Balin>>> It's no secret that nature endowed stones with the most amazing properties. Watching them, people from ancient times associated various legends, traditions and beliefs with such stones. The balin stone is rich in the history of this kind of stone. It got its name from its first deposit in the Mongolian district of Bayain. The color of the mineral varies from a modest gray and yellowish to bright red and almost black, while the veins of cinnabar, painted in bright red shades, form a beautiful pattern on the surface of a polished balin, similar to stains and smudges of blood. It is no coincidence that one of the English names for balin is chickan blood stone, which translates as “chicken blood stone”. From the dossier: Balin is a mineral with a rather complex composition. It includes kaolin, cinnabar, quartz, alunite and other substances and minerals. The gloss has a matte, silky finish. Hardness - 9.0 on the Mohs scale. Density -...

• Belemnite - a legendary stone

  View all products from Belemnite>>> From time immemorial, people, watching the gifts of nature, have come up with mythical stories about the appearance of certain objects. The lack of natural knowledge was replaced by religion and folklore. So, the same stones in different countries could have different names and equally different origins. Accordingly, they were used in different ways. One of the richest in legends of the peoples of the world, the stone is belemnite, better known to the Russian people as the “devil's finger”. From the dossier: Belemnites are long-extinct invertebrate cephalopods. Outwardly, they were similar to squids, but, unlike them, they had an internal shell. Their length, as a rule, did not exceed 40 cm, and the shell was cigarette-shaped. Unlike their brothers ammonites, belemnites are not so beautiful and their shells differ little from each other. Belemnites have colors from light gray and yellow to dark brown and cherry. Shine...

• Belomorit - the color of the north

  View all products from Belomorite>>> The severe charm of the North excited the minds of a huge number of people. Recall at least Jack London, who immortalized the Great Northern Wilderness in his works. A wild land in which luck is especially capricious and condescends only to those who have proven the strength of their character, overcome all obstacles and have not lost faith in their guiding star. And the beauty of nature there is special. Discreet, strict, majestic, bewitching. Without the southern riot of colors, hidden from prying eyes by northern fogs and snows. Falling in love with yourself immediately and forever - or never. Love for the North is not easy. More in spite of many things than for anything. Therefore, parting with him is both joyful and painful, having left there, it is impossible not to plunge into memories of him. White Sea. One of the most mysterious places on earth. His beauty was sung by ancient Karelian-Finnish and Sami legends and legends, his...

• Benitoite - a stone of success

  See all products from Benitoite>>> Have you noticed that some precious stones are quite similar to each other? Some of them are indistinguishable to the average buyer. On the one hand, this may be in the hands of the layman, because. cheaper jewelry can be passed off as more expensive. On the other hand, there is a danger that jewelry sellers will also take advantage of this similarity. One of the most famous and expensive twin stones is benitoite, which has an incredible resemblance to sapphire. He got his name from the name of the San Benito area in California, USA. It was first found in 1906 by James Kutch, and he first mistook it for a sapphire, after which, for some time, faceted benitoites were sold precisely as sapphires. A year later, the mineralogist George Louderbuck studied the mineral in detail using X-rays, proving that the crystal lattice of benitoite is ...

• Beryl - star family

  See all Beryl products>>> Family is one of the true values ​​that we have almost lost in the "squirrel wheel" of the modern world. Most of us are now on our own, and only a few were lucky enough to be part of a friendly family "mechanism" when numerous children and parents , daughters-in-law and brothers-in-law, great-aunts and great-nephews, grandfathers and sister-in-laws are interconnected by such strong bonds that neither distances, nor disputes, nor social differences sometimes prevent them from gathering at a common table - as in the good old days, which, it seems, are practically gone into the realm of legends. And what happens if we transfer this analogy to the world of gems? Yes, the same thing: most of the gems, although they are in a distant, barely perceptible relationship, are still unlike the others, but there are also huge and friendly families, consisting of at first glance such different, but at the same time so close gems and even if someone becomes...

• Turquoise - a stone of happiness

  View all products from Turquoise>>> A lot has been said about minerals and gems, and people especially like to read about unusual and exotic novelties: multi-colored and iridescent stones, rare and available almost in a single copy, whose value is “off scale”, and the history is rich bloody robberies, the overthrow of kings and insidious conspiracies. Do we not forget, however, in pursuit of the fleeting fashion of "familiar strangers" - gems that seem to be around all the time, known since childhood and seem familiar and a little boring? From the dossier: Turquoise is an aqueous (hydrated) phosphate of copper and aluminum. Hardness 5.6 on the Mohs scale, density 2.6 g/cm. Luster is silky, waxy or glassy. Other names: turquoise (agafite), Arabic stone, Aztec stone, heavenly stone, callaite, azure spar, calchihuitl. Turquoise needs no introduction - its very color entered the dictionary as a definition of bright blue ...

• Bischofite - the healing power of the ancient sea

  View all products from Bischofite>>> In one of the Russian folk tales the hero achieves success in life by finding a jug of living water. He goes through difficult trials, gets a princess as his wife, becomes a king, and all this is thanks to living water. But most importantly, he gains legs that he did not have before. What kind of water is this? A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it ... Only relatively recently it became known that there is such a natural remedy. Legs, of course, do not grow, but joint pains go away - maybe there is a hint of this in a fairy tale? .. From the dossier: Bischofite is a mineral, a complex aqueous magnesium and potassium chloride from the class of halogen compounds, crystalline salt. Hardness 1.0-2.0 on the Mohs scale, density 1.6 g/cm3, glassy luster, dull. Other names: magnesium chloride. Bischofite was first discovered as a component in the famous Stasfurt salt-bearing deposits of Germany by the German geologist and chemist Carl-Gustav Bischoff...

• Variscite - a stone of goodness

  See all Variscite products>>> In the modern world there are many beautiful, perfect machines, amazing works of art, professional craftsmen, but still, following the news, we understand that in all this abundance people sometimes lack the usual, human kindness. But nature, as if anticipating such a need, about two hundred years ago allowed us to find a stone in the bowels of the earth that can endow everyone with an endless desire for kindness. In the Mineralogical Museum named after A. E. Fersman Russian Academy The sciences kept a polished cut of a stone brought from the United States of America. With its color, it resembles the green-azure expanse of warm tropical waters. This is variscite - a stone of goodness. The mineral got its official name thanks to one of the districts of Saxony - Variscia, and the name that ordinary people gave it, it deserved for its properties. But first things first. From...

• Verdelite - messenger of nature

  View all products from Verdelit>>> Sometimes seemingly simple things hide a lot of mysteries and secrets. A person who is weak at first glance can possess unheard-of strength, and an ugly woman in comparison with others can fight the hearts of men one after another. Approximately in this role, the verdelite stone appears on the ground. Although he is far from ugly and not small. However, its power and influence on a person is amazing. The name "verdelit" is translated very simply - green stone("verde" is Italian for "green" and "lithos" is Greek for "stone"). Verdelite is the green variety of tourmaline, and its hues range from soft grassy to deep green. The uneven distribution of impurities often creates a bizarre play of colors in the crystals of this mineral, but it must be remembered that under artificial lighting, verdelites somewhat lose color compared to the impression they make in sunlight. From the dossier:...

• Gagat - black as night

  View all Gagat items>>> Probably, there is no person on Earth who at least once would not experience a superstitious fear of the cover of darkness descending on the world. It is irrational, this horror as ancient as the world - the outlines of objects seem to blur, and the worst nightmares await their speedy incarnation. Today we have almost conquered the night - bright electric light drives away old fears, but much earlier nothing protected people from the borders of darkness and it is quite natural that the black color quickly acquired a gloomy and magical meaning, and the creatures of living and inanimate Nature that possess it, from cats to gems , have become the prerogative of sorcerers and occultists. However, there are not so many pure black stones - but each of them has an amazing power that made ancient people avoid these children of the night, using them only in the most difficult moments of life ... From the dossier: Gagat is a black, dense and viscous variety of fossil brown coal. ..

• Galiotis - the precious rainbow of the ocean

  See all products from Haliotis>>> What would human civilization be like without seashells, it is impossible to say now - seashells have been with us since the beginning of time. They became the first tools of man's labor, the first money, his first utensils, weapons, his first musical instrument, his first decoration. About a hundred thousand years have passed since man adorned himself with shells, and the knowledge of stone and metal as decorations more than fits into the last ten thousand years. Many technical inventions were made with the help of shells, they were used to extract paint, make clothes, medicines, they still make cosmetics, and yet the most amazing thing about them is not even pearls, but wonderful shades of mother-of-pearl, fabulous, paradise flowers, like, for example, in agaliotis. From the dossier: Haliotis is the common name for mother-of-pearl extracted from the shells of gastropod mollusks of the genus Haliotis. Mother-of-pearl is composed of calcium carbonate (carbonic...

• Galite is the most domestic stone

  See all products from Galita>>> We used to call many things in our life completely different words, sometimes not even suspecting that an unfamiliar term means something that is used daily in everyday life. For example, a synonym for rock or table salt is the name "halite". This name of rock salt comes from the Greek word "gals", which in translation means nothing more than salt. Halite is the only natural mineral that humans eat. From the dossier: The formula of halite is NaCl. Most often it is transparent and colorless, sometimes it has a white color. Impurities give it other colors. Glass luster. The mineral is brittle. Hardness is not more than 2 on the Mohs scale, density - 2.1-2.2 g / cm3. It has high thermal conductivity, easily dissolves in water, has a salty taste. Halite can be confused with sylvin, fluorite, gypsum and calcite, from which it is easily distinguished by its salty taste. Formation of the main masses of halite...

• Heliodor - the magical gift of the sun

  View all products from Heliodor>>> If there are still people who perceive stones as something motionless and cold, we can easily refute this superficial erroneous opinion. In fact, some stones, like good wizards, have a warm heart, a subtle soul, and are able to work miracles. One of these stones is a mineral with a proud, sonorous name - heliodor. The name of this mineral comes from the Greek words "helios" - the sun and "doro" - a gift. For the ancient Greeks, the sun is a fiery chariot drawn by four fiery horses. On it, the god Helios passes through the sky every day, and at night he returns home in a golden bowl by sea, where his sisters, the goddesses of the moon and dawn, are waiting for him. The stone was associated with the Greek god of the sun for its golden color. But in reality, the personal name was received relatively recently. This variety of beryl began to be called heliodor only at the beginning of the 20th century, after...

• Heliotrope - the stone of winners

  See all Heliotrope items>>> The tragic crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of the Christian faith, has been depicted countless times on canvas and wood, metal and stone, in stained-glass windows and mosaics. This great scene, recognizable without further ado by any person in the world, can be so different - both huge, many human heights, and tiny - on a pectoral cross. And in all ages, masters, God-fearingly working on this holy picture, were tormented by doubts: can a drawing or engraving, casting or glyptic created by people properly convey all the brightness of colors, all the pathos of humility before divine self-sacrifice? The answer was found suddenly - a stone cutter, whose name is irretrievably lost to posterity, discovered that there is a miraculous gem in the world, whose dark green surface is densely speckled with blood-red spots - like drops of the Savior's blood fell on the grass of Mount Calvary and stained it forever ... From. ..

• Hematite - the blood stone of mages

  View all products from Hematite>>> The use of gems as talismans, magical amulets, which, with the help of the energy hidden inside, implicitly control human life, leveling the course of events, protecting its owner from troubles or developing his talents, has been known since ancient times, because it is from cult objects that shone on the chests of the priests and accompanied the dead to another world, the history of the widespread use of precious stones once began. However, most of the minerals were not limited to such use - the stones firmly entered the daily life of both kings and commoners, settled in the interior, and in household items, and in elegant jewelry, where gems truly had no equal either in beauty or in variety. Having gained secular fame, gems gradually ceased to be associated with magic and spirituality - yes, everyone knows about their beneficial effects, but this function is perceived only half-heartedly, as ...

• Hessonite - soft patron

  View all products from Hessonite>>> Nature has always surprised people with its inventions. As if someone rises above the planet, and in front of him is a mosaic scattering, and not one of its fragments is similar to another. This someone takes a few fragments, invents a legend for them and throws them down, and in the place of the Earth where they fall, a bizarre animal, a fragrant flower or a sparkling stone appears. And then he can change the ingredients, and it turns out something completely different. Perhaps this is how minerals are born, common in nature, but completely different from each other. For example, a stone such as pomegranate is involuntarily associated with the juicy and bright interior of the fruit of the same name, and therefore the pomegranate in our mind is red. transparent stone and nothing else. However, in fact, it has a lot of varieties, each of which has its own color. They are scarlet, dark to black and even green, and one of these varieties is similar to honey ...

• Hyalite - frozen dewdrop

  See all products from Hyalite>>> Since childhood, people, being in the early morning or after a rain in nature, look at the droplets of water, hanging on blades of grass and gleaming on soft moss, as if spellbound. And every time you really want to take this flawless bead with you, but its fragility does not allow it - you just need to touch it, and the magic dissipates, and the drop disappears. In nature, there is a mineral, one of the varieties of opal, which resembles a frozen drop of water, reflecting what she managed to get on. This mineral is called hyalite. Its name comes from the Greek word "h?alos", which means "glass". Indeed, drops of water have been compared to pieces of glass since the very moment when people learned to melt sand and get a beautiful pliable material out of it. But hyalite has not only external similarities with water, in its composition H2O reaches 10%. From the dossier: Hyalite occurs in nature in the form of dense ...

• Hyacinth - a mysterious stone of the color of blood

  View all products from Hyacinth>>> Once upon a time there lived in Sparta a beautiful young man named Hyacinth – his beauty was brighter than the sun, more dazzling than the faces of the immortal gods. From an early age, Hyacinth, who was also the son of the local king, had the friendship and patronage of the god of the sun and art Apollo and the god of the south wind Zephyr. Friends spent their days hunting, sports and games - the hours flowed imperceptibly, adding up to days, months and years, but the charm of Hyacinth did not fade, but only flared up. And then one day they started a competition in discus throwing - a favorite Greek pastime of those times. Apollo could not win against the prince of Sparta in any way - he threw the projectile too far for ordinary person. Then the golden-haired god threw the disc above the clouds in order to win for sure, and put all his strength into the blow. Zephyr, who secretly wished for Hyacinth's victory, blew to make the disk of Apollo go astray, but did not calculate, and the projectile hit the handsome young man's face, killing ...

• Giddenite - the energy of business

  See all Giddenite products>>> Green color is the color of life. On our beautiful planet, it is perhaps one of the most beloved flowers of Mother Nature, the color of plants, flowers and fruits reaching for the light. Some people have green eyes, and the bowels of the earth contain green stones of amazing beauty and properties. For example, in 1879 in North Carolina (USA) a new emerald green stone was discovered, which was easily confused with a real emerald or chrysoberyl. This stone is now known to us as Hiddenite. It received its name in 1881, in honor of the American mineralogist W. E. Gidden (1853-1918). From the dossier: Giddenite is considered a type of spodumene. The color of the stones is green, grayish-green, gray and grayish-brown. The luster is glassy. Hardness approximately 6.5 - 7.5 on the Mohs scale, density from 2.6 to 3.1 g / cm3. Other names for the mineral and its varieties: spodumene emerald, ...

• Eye stones - not the eye of fate?

  See all items made of Glazkov stones>>>

• Rock crystal - ice symphony

  Rock crystal See all products made of rock crystal>>> The history of this stone originates in Ancient Greece – exactly there, in Patras many thousands of years ago there was a marble temple of the goddess of fertility Demeter. People flocked from all over the country to ask the priests for advice - there, over a round well, an amazing crystal mirror hung. After the mysterious ceremonies, the priest peered into the shimmering cold stone depths, seeing in them the answers to questions asked by visitors, and there was no case that the crystal mirror made a mistake in the prediction ... From the dossier: Rock crystal is a colorless transparent quartz, silicon oxide. Other names: crystal, Arabic diamond, Bohemian diamond. Hardness 7.0 on the Mohs scale, density 2.6 g/cm3, glassy luster. Rock crystal is one of the most famous and widespread gems on Earth. What they didn’t do from it: dishes, jewelry, magic tools, and ...

• Pomegranate - a many-sided stone of passions

  View all Pomegranate products>>> The Middle Ages - the time of wars of conquest and crusades, pure love and inquisitorial torture, the darkest and most passionate period of human history. The cities of heretics are burning and the Gentiles are fleeing from the cruel tread of the Host of Christ - and somewhere in the distance a beautiful lady in a transparent veil and a silk dress is walking around the garden, clutching in her hands a prayer book decorated with precious stones. Will her knight return - or fall from the spear of a black barbarian? But faith is strong - after all, before parting, she gave him not only her perfumed scarf, but also a talisman with a bright scarlet stone, which, according to the promises of the warlocks, would save her beloved from an arrow and a sword. And now he, probably, raises his hand for a fatal blow, and her precious gift sparkles in the flames of fires like a drop of frozen blood ... From the dossier: Garnets are a group of minerals of the silicate class. Can be any color except blue. Hardness - 6.5–7.5...

• Jaspilite - for moving to the better

  View all products from Jaspilite>>> Few inhabitants of the planet Earth have been on the shores of huge quarries where iron ore is mined. The spectacle evokes controversial emotions. On the one hand, the scale of the earthen stadium is so impressive that a person freezes for a second, even stops breathing. The brain is trying to pick up at least something to assess the scale of the "pit" in its field of vision. But he can't. On the other hand, this industrial landscape is pathetic. Dirty cars that look like midges, monotonous technical sounds, fences. How can something beautiful be here? Maybe! It is in such quarries that a mineral called jaspilite is mined. The name of the stone comes from English word"jasper" - jasper and Greek "lithos" - stone. The fact is that jaspilite is quite similar to jasper, but in reality it is a ferruginous quartzite formed as a result of the metamorphism of ferruginous-siliceous chemical and volcanogenic ...

• Diopside - a stone of many faces

  View all products made of Diopside>>> Stars in our imagination are by no means blazing suns, similar to what warms us during the day. We imagine the heavenly bodies as sparkling placers on the black velvet of the sky. Who would have thought that the earth has its own star with the paradoxical name "black star". Although she herself is not black at all, but is called so only because she flashes against the background of a tar-black rare gem. The stone that will be discussed has many names, and primarily due to the variety of its colors, each of which is associated with a separate point on the globe. The common name for all these colored varieties sounds like "diopside", it came from two Greek roots - "di" and "opsis". The approximate translation of this name sounds like "double guise" or "duplicity". The mineral received such an offensive name all for the same color variety, which made it more than once confused with more expensive ones ...

• Jade - the beginning of all beginnings

  See all jadeite products>>> The history of mankind is inextricably linked with gems. Today, for many, precious stones are just decorative ornaments, but much earlier, at the dawn of human civilization, minerals played a much more important and fundamental role. Everything was made of them, from furniture to dishes: royal regalia, objects of religious worship and magical talismans - all these were gems, and some, special stones, went further than just being useful or pleasing to the eye - they were a kind of symbols of statehood and were loved not a limited number of wealthy aristocrats, but entire empires, present equally in the homes of the poor and the palaces of kings. Such stones will not get lost in the haze of centuries - they remain at the peak of popularity for centuries, and even an inexperienced buyer will easily remember their names, inextricably linked with the history and mythology of the largest empires of antiquity, mysterious and exquisite ......

• Pearls - a gift from the deep sea

  View all products made of Pearls>>> Among the numerous precious stones, pearls have always stood apart. The most mysterious and beloved of gems, it was pearls that became the first decoration known to man at the dawn of our civilization. This wonderful stone is unique in everything and has no analogues, combining amazing beauty with such non-standard properties. The history of pearls is lost for centuries, but it probably began when someone, in search of food, opened another mollusk shell - and, along with the coveted food, found a shining little ball, which was destined to start the era of precious jewelry. Pearls did not require any processing or cutting, being by nature mostly round or pear-shaped, so people began to use this stone long before the development of mining. From the dossier: Pearl is a mineral of organic origin, formed when a mineral substance is deposited around a foreign body in the mantle ...

• Healthy - the power of two minerals

  View all products from Zdravolit>>> Information about the health-improving effect that minerals have on the human body has come down to us through the millennia. All this time, people continued to believe in the power of the stone and use it. It is not surprising that sooner or later the idea arose to create new material, which will combine best qualities natural minerals. This is how zdorovit appeared, created on the basis of shungite and bischofite - two minerals that have a truly healing power of nature itself. From the dossier: Zdravolit is a natural material created by man on the basis of shungite and bischofite minerals. It has balneological and protective properties, it is used as an ornamental stone for the manufacture of small plastic, jewelry, panels. The first component of zdorovlit is shungite, a Karelian healer. In search of protecting a person from the negative effects of electromagnetic radiation, various ...

• Serpentine - the skin of the Great Snake

  View all products from Serpentine>>> Many legends and fairy tales are kept by the Ural Mountains, which for several centuries have been giving the world semi-precious placers. So, the miners believed that the Mistress of the Copper Mountain ruled the mines - a beautiful maiden in green clothes, who is able both to show the master the right stone, and to forever destroy the unfortunate one who disturbed her peace. And the guardian of the gold was the Great Poloz - a giant fiery serpent, and those who saw him were terribly lucky: where he crawled, then ore-bearing veins were found. Once a year, like all snakes, the Poloz sheds its old skin, which hardens and turns into a greenish-yellow stone with golden sparks in the depths of the mountains - a serpentine ... A bit of science: A serpentine is a group of minerals of the same composition, but different symmetry. Includes several mineral species: antigorite (Mg,Fe2+)3Si2O5(OH)4 chrysotile (clinochrysotile, orthochrysotile, parachrysotile) Mg3Si2O5(OH)4 lizardite Mg3Si2O5(OH)4....

• Emerald - a sacred stone from the Garden of Eden

  View all Emerald products>>> The Holy Grail, in which drops of Jesus Christ's blood were collected - the main and long-lost shrine of the Christian world - has always been shrouded in a haze of legends, myths and rumors, some declared it made of Lebanese cedar, some - cast from gold, who is generally a metaphor, but the most mystical legend says that when the fallen angel Lucifer was expelled and thrown from heaven, a large stone broke off from his crown, which then the Queen of Sheba brought as a gift to King Solomon, and much later this precious gift was encrusted into that very cherished goblet that the knights of the semi-mythical King Arthur, and the medieval crusaders, and the occultists of the Third Reich were unsuccessfully looking for. Whether there was a bowl, and, most importantly, whether there was a stone - we do not know, but it is deeply symbolic that none other than an emerald was chosen to decorate the shrine - a unique gem, the love of mankind for which, starting in time immemorial, until ...

• Iolite - violet stone

  See all Iolite products>>> Have you ever paid attention to how beautiful late summer evenings are, when the haze of lilac twilight has already descended to the ground, wrapped everything around with a ghostly veil of mystery? The sun has already set, and the glow of the scarlet sunset has been replaced by a yellowish radiance, stretching in an even strip on the horizon, the sky seems to stretch into one giant rainbow - golden turns into transparent white air, a soft blue flair flows from it, so that for a moment it seems: day not finished yet. But following the azure ribbon, sapphire-blue ink spreads across the sky, which gradually turns purple and, finally, comes to a thick dark velvet, on which the first stars are already scattered with diamonds ... These moments are so fleeting and light, they end so soon that you really want to stop time and forever admire the play of colors. And merciful Nature turned out to be receptive to human desires: she created a precious stone, a play of color ...

• See all Calcite products>>> Gems are different. There are the rarest minerals that are found only in one tiny corner of the Earth, and even there they have almost disappeared, and therefore there are stones that have already become almost a rarity, which caught the dawn of the world, but only recently seemed to people to be minerals born by living beings or emerging from the vent of a volcano ... Names - not to count, properties - not to remember, and this amazing diversity makes us again and again take up the painstaking study of the world of the stone kingdom, because next to old acquaintances, new, never-before-seen treasures constantly appear. However, there is one truly amazing stone in a motley company of gems, which practically combines the properties of many - and its otherness, first of all, is that it is neither rare nor insanely expensive, we meet it almost every day - and at the same time, in terms of beauty and in demand, it is not inferior to the most unique minerals, but ...

• Cacholong - Sacred Cow's Milk

  See all products from Cacholong>>> There are countless beautiful gems born by Mother Nature - everyone will find a stone to their taste and color among the great variety of minerals. Each of the brilliant pieces of rock has its own flowery legend, poetically explaining the origin of the stone - and there, in spite of everything, there is always a certain amount of truth, that same “hint from a fairy tale” that will lead a biased researcher to the idea of ​​​​secret and obvious properties. stones hidden in beautiful poetic lines. One of these myths, born in ancient India, says that when sacred cows living at temples drop drops of fragrant milk on the ground, it hardens and turns into a porcelain-white, slightly porous stone that sticks to the tongue - cacholong pearl opal. From the dossier: Cacholong - a porcelain-like opaque mixture of fine-grained chalcedony and ordinary opal white color. Other names: beautiful stone, Kalmyk...

• Quartz - the warmth of non-melting ice

  View all products made of Quartz>>> The history of this stone originates in Ancient Greece – exactly there, in Patras many thousands of years ago there was a marble temple of the goddess of fertility Demeter. People flocked from all over the country to ask the priests for advice - there, over a round well, an amazing crystal mirror hung. After the mysterious ceremonies, the priest peered into the shimmering cold stone depths, seeing in them the answers to questions asked by visitors, and there was no case that the crystal mirror made a mistake in the prediction ... From the dossier: Rock crystal is a colorless transparent quartz, silicon oxide. Other names: crystal, Arabic diamond, Bohemian diamond. Hardness 7.0 on the Mohs scale, density 2.6 g/cm3, glassy luster. Rock crystal is one of the most famous and widespread gems on Earth. They didn’t make anything from it: dishes, jewelry, magic tools, and lamps ... Along with pearls and ...

• Clinochlor - the stone of all virtues

  View all Clinochlor products>>> Green gemstones have long held a special place in the heart of Russian gem lovers. This phenomenon is not accidental - after all, the natural wealth of Russia from the Ural mountains to the Krasnodar fields are boundless seas of numerous shades of green - from the dense color of spruce needles to pale green spring foliage, in some places diluted only with blue spots of rivers and lakes. With the beginning of active mining of gems in Russia, green stones immediately won the greatest popularity, the share of which in the northern mines significantly exceeded the production of minerals of other shades. Patterned malachite, variegated serpentine similar to snake scales, greenish-gray Revnevskaya jasper, translucent Siberian jade, famous Ural emeralds, Krasnoyarsk yellow-green chrysolites, rare green tourmalines immediately provided the Russian Empire with the first place in the gem market, and in addition to rich deposits of well-known ...

• Coral - sea flower

  See all products from Coral>>> When it came to the origin of gems in the old days, the most unusual and irrational legends and rumors sounded. Another stone was allegedly a frozen drop of water, another was the petrified blood of a dragon, the third was considered a fragment of the underwater castle of the sea goddess ... Of course, only grains of truth are found by modern researchers in these stories, which, for all their beauty and flamboyance, are nothing more than fairy tales - how can there be a stone a frozen part of a living creature? .. However, among the precious stones there is one most interesting specimen, the origin of which is really poetic and magical, we are used to it, and we don’t notice how strange its appearance on our planet is in essence ... From the dossier: Coral is a gem of organogenic origin , a hard calcareous skeleton of polyps living in the Indian and Pacific oceans, the Caribbean and the Red and others warm seas. Hardness 3.5-4.0 on the Mohs scale,...

• Cordierite - twilight stone

  View all products from Cordierite>>> Have you ever paid attention to how beautiful late summer evenings are, when the haze of lilac twilight has already descended to the ground, wrapped everything around with a ghostly veil of mystery? The sun has already set, and the glow of the scarlet sunset has been replaced by a yellowish radiance, stretching in an even strip on the horizon, the sky seems to stretch into one giant rainbow - golden turns into transparent white air, a soft blue flair flows from it, so that for a moment it seems: day not finished yet. But following the azure ribbon, sapphire-blue ink spreads across the sky, which gradually turns purple and, finally, comes to a thick dark velvet, on which the first stars are already scattered with diamonds ... These moments are so fleeting and light, they end so soon that you really want to stop time and forever admire the play of colors. And merciful Nature turned out to be receptive to human desires: she created ...

• Corundum is a faithful companion of mankind

  See all corundum products>>> Few people realize that the stone that adorns their favorite ring, the glass of expensive watches and the elements of sandpaper in the toolbox are one and the same mineral. If you compare them at first glance, then it is very difficult to believe in such a statement. One shimmers with its perfect scarlet edges, the other is transparent and faceless, and the third is completely cheap gray crumb. However, these are all varieties of the stone known collectively as corundum. It permeates various spheres human life helping and pleasing us everywhere and everywhere. There are several points of view on exactly what word the current name of this mineral came from, one thing is for sure - its homeland is Asia. "Kauruntaka" or "Kurundam" - this is how this mineral was called in India and Ceylon. Although it is believed that the name corundum comes from the Sanskrit "kuruvinda" - ruby. The color of corundum is usually bluish or yellowish gray, but clear ...

• Flint - the first stone helper

  See all Flint products>>> How do you think, how did humanity get acquainted with the world of stone? Which stone was the first mineral? Apparently, flint aroused the first interest of primitive man with its properties. At first glance, this is a completely nondescript rock, although a very attractive pattern is sometimes observed on the chips. But, of course, it's not about the picture. Once this stone was everything for a person. Men made stone axes, sharp arrowheads and spears for hunting from this mineral. The women of the tribe dressed skins and cut meat with the same flint knives, and primitive artists carved their paintings on the coastal rocks with a “chisel”. It was a whole era devoted to flint, which historians even dubbed the Stone Age. And despite the fact that the Stone Age has long ended, people do not stop mining flint today. From the dossier: There are opal-chalcedonic and...

• Kunzite - gentle rhythm of harmony

  See all Kunzite products>>> Pink color- this is a whole palette of mixes of red and white. This color is not too often found in nature, but it always corresponds to something gentle, beautiful, sweet and peaceful. What is the first thing that comes to mind with memories of pink? Flowers, sunset, flamingos, and a kitten's wet nose. This color has always been associated feminine energy yin. And it is with it that such a transparent pink stone as kunzite is filled. More than a hundred years ago, in 1902, the American gemologist J. A. Kunz was the first to discover and describe in his writings a precious variety of spodumene, which was later named kunzite in his honor. From a chemical point of view, this mineral is a transparent lithium aluminum silicate. That is why kunzite is sometimes called lithium amethyst. From the dossier: Transparent kunzite, glassy luster. Luminesces in orange tones under ultraviolet and X-ray...

• Labrador - the mysterious sparkle of the rainbow

  See all products from Labrador>>> For centuries, scientists have been arguing about who the human originated from - whether it evolved from a monkey, whether it flew from the Cosmos, whether it was molded from clay by some kind of Divine hand ... There is another interesting theory - it says that human civilization on Earth is by no means the first, and that several million years ago, side by side with cavemen, there was another civilization - the northern country of Hyperborea, located on the site of the modern north pole and stretching up to the Ural Mountains, which was inhabited by creatures perfect in their beauty and wisdom. Myths about it have been preserved in the memory of many peoples - a long time ago this country was destroyed by severe natural disasters, but the remnants of its population mingled with people and brought them new knowledge. It was the Hyperboreans, according to one of the legends, who first showed people the beauty of an amazing stone, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow ... From the dossier: ...

• Lapis lazuli - a stone from the shores of the sky

  View all Lapis lazuli products>>> Imagine a mountain path covered with a dawn haze, along which tall, tanned porters are wandering, exhaling clouds of steam into the frosty air. They walked here for many days and nights, through the night cold and daytime heat, someone died under an avalanche, someone fell into a bottomless abyss, and someone simply could not stand the hardships of the journey. And only the remnants of the once huge caravan got here, to the snowy Pamir, from their native warm Mesopotamia. What prompted the kings of Sumer to send so many strong servants to certain, it seemed, death that they could still be useful in battle? The answer lies in the huge bundles now resting on the backs of tormented people - here are the edges of the fabric in which the mysterious cargo was carefully wrapped, accidentally leaned back, and a bright blue stone sparkled under the rising cruel sun, ready to compete in density and strength of color with the cold skies that seem so close in the mountains... From the dossier:...

• Larimar - Atlantic stone

  The larimar stone was first discovered in volcanic rocks of the Miocene age (at the contact of andesites and basalts with limestones) in the Dominican Republic, where legends about it have been known for a long time. In 1974, the local jeweler Miguel Mendez drew attention to him, who at first mistook the found blue stone for turquoise, but, not being sure, gave it to the US Smithsonian Institute for research, where it was found that it was a blue variety of pectolite. Mendes gave the new jewelry stone he found the trade name "Larimar" from the first syllable of the name of his youngest daughter Larisa ("lari" from "Larissa"), and the Spanish "mar" - sea (since the stone has a marine color). Blue pectolite deposit in Dominican Republic so far the only one in the world. It is located in the southwest of the country in the Sierra de Baoruco mountains. Larimar is a blue variety of pectolite. Hardness on the Mohs scale - 5.5–6. Density - 2.84 - 2.9 g / cm? The appearance of the larimar...

• Moonstone - The moon descended from heaven

  View all items made of Moonstone>>> “I will give you everything you want, even the Moon from the sky,” say lovers all over the world, wanting to prove the strength of their feelings. Is it really possible to take and give your beloved not banal sweets and a bouquet of flowers, but a piece of a cold night luminary? Since ancient times, people have dreamed about this - to keep, to find frozen moonlight on Earth, to understand the nature of lunar mysteries, to get their own piece of the Moon. The prose of life tells us that in fact the Moon is just a satellite floating in the vacuum of space, not even a planet at all, but just a big dead ball, shining only by reflected light. But at the same time, the Moon has an amazing effect on our lives - and this is expressed not only in the ebb and flow, but also in the behavior of plants and animals, people's mood changes, mysterious events that for some reason are inextricably linked with the lunar phases that a person began to observe. still at the dawn of time. And it's definitely impossible...

• Magnetite - Herculean stone

  View all items made of Magnetite>>> Caravans go along the boundless Gobi sands. To the right, to the left - dull yellow dunes. The sun is hidden by a yellow veil of dust. Far is the way from the imperial pagodas on the banks of the Yangtze to the minarets of the Kushan kingdoms. It would have been difficult for the caravaners if there had not been a white camel in the caravan. White camel with his priceless cargo. Priceless, although it is not gold, not pearls, and not ivory. Protected by a carved wooden cage, between the humps of a white camel, an earthenware vessel made its way through the desert, in which a small oblong piece of magnetized iron floated in the water on a cork. The edges of the vessel were painted in four colors. Red denoted south, black denoted north, green denoted east, and white denoted west. An earthenware vessel with a piece of iron in it was a primitive ancient compass that showed caravaners the way in the endless sands... (From ancient chronicles.) From the dossier: Magnetite is a mineral, nitrous oxide...

• Malachite - fulfilling wishes

  View all Malachite products>>> When it comes to a particular country, our imagination automatically obligingly throws us established associations, which usually form the image of a state for a foreigner. Spain - sun, castanets, flamenco England - rain, tea with milk, "God Save the Queen" Holland - cheese, tulips, fachwerk ... We may not know what the flag looks like and who is depicted on the banknotes of a particular republic or kingdom - but unspoken, but known to everyone and everyone, symbols denoting milestones Everyday life Let's remember for sure. However, oddly enough, what a foreigner will remember will most likely seem naive and outdated to a native inhabitant - after all, everything is seen differently from the inside, and it is unlikely that any Russian seriously associates the Motherland with wooden nesting dolls, a balalaika, a bear and a red-star hat with earflaps, but we will certainly think about a grove of thin birches, about a boundless, light blue sky, about ...

• Moldavite - a child of distant stars

  View all products from Moldavite>>> The cosmos, winking with an infinite number of stars, has been beckoning us for centuries with its ignorance, inaccessibility and monumental beauty. How many ancient legends are associated with the night radiance of the stars: they were precious stones in the crowns of the gods, they were given to loved ones, performing thousands of feats in order to get them from heaven, they were considered alive, conscious and bearing signs of fate. But even now, when ancient legends mean no more to us than children's fairy tales, we do not stop making a wish when we see a shooting star. And few people know that the fragments of shooting stars that have been shining so mysteriously for us for millions of years can not only be touched, but also worn as jewelry. From the dossier: Moldavite is a glassy siliceous mineral. Hardness - 5.0-6.0 on the Mohs scale, density - 2.3 g / cm. The melting point is about 1300 degrees. Transparent, gloss - glass. Other names: bottle stone, water...

• Morganite - the sacred stone of the East

  View all products from Morganite>>> The stories of gems are shrouded in legends and legends. Mankind believes that stones are able to protect their owner from trouble, attract good luck, cure many diseases, or even eliminate enemies. Some stones have a unique set of positive influences, being both talismans and amulets. Since ancient times, mankind has noticed the incredible qualities of such minerals and even dedicated a separate cult to them. This is a group of beryls, which includes emerald, aquamarine, morganite and heliodor. In Buddhism, one of the oldest earthly religions, these stones have long been revered for a reason. Particular attention was paid to morganite - this pink variety of beryl has truly magical properties. The most important of which is the ability to attract the love of the opposite sex to its owner, maintain the fire of passion in the family hearth, protect against betrayal. AND...

• Morion - "black diamond"

  View all products from Morion>>> In the numerous family of quartz there are stones for every taste and color: from transparent colorless rock crystal, lemon yellow citrine and noble purple amethyst to fiery carnelian and green cat's eye. But, perhaps, the most mysterious can be called black quartz - morion, a "dark horse" in a series of brothers in kind. If rock crystal is called a Bohemian diamond, then morion is a black diamond. From the dossier: black or dark brown quartz, silicon dioxide (silica), opaque. Mohs hardness - 7.0, density -2.6 g/cm3, glass luster. Other names: black quartz. Morion is black quartz, which used to be called black rock crystal, and also a variety of smoky quartz. Morion acquired such a rare color among minerals as a result of radioactive radiation, which it was exposed to in the host rock, for example, granite. Experts disagree...

• Jade - the stone of immortality

  See all jade products>>> Among the ancient buildings of Samarkand stands out the famous Gur-Emir mausoleum - the tomb of the Timurids, cruel eastern rulers, descended from Tamerlane himself, who called himself the "Lord of the Universe". He himself lies there - the great conqueror, who terrified the world, trembling under his iron heel, and during his lifetime - a great lover and connoisseur of gems. The treasury of Tamerlane was fabulously rich, the clothes were decorated with jewels and amulets, a huge blood-red spinel inserted into the headdress was burning above the forehead, like an ominous third eye. However, everything passes, and now there is no treasury of the Timurids, no power, no wealth, the gems “scattered” among the royal houses of Europe, and the only companion of Tamerlane in his last refuge was a giant jade crystal that served him as a tombstone. However, this choice is not accidental - I think the Lord of the Universe would not mind...

• Jade - hidden in the shadows

  See all Nephritoid items>>> “A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it,” said the great Pushkin. Indeed, sometimes the most extraordinary legend, which generations of unbelievers laugh at, suddenly turns out to be true, because people's memory is short, and events that took place in the immeasurable distance of time are easily twitched by a haze of fiction. It is all the more surprising to discover how shining truth is revealed behind hoary antiquity - and one can envy those who happened to participate in the search for such a fairy tale in their lifetime. One of these people was Henry Schliemann, a German archaeologist who from childhood adored the ancient poems of the great blind man Homer. And Schliemann was especially fascinated by the story of Troy - the mythical city, whose prince Paris kidnapped from Greece the most beautiful woman on Earth, Helen, than unleashed great war, in the fire of which Troy was forever destroyed. Yes, and who has not heard this legend - albeit in the form of familiar, winged phrases, the apple of discord, ...

• Obsidian - the frozen fire of a volcano

  View all obsidian products>>> A volcanic eruption is a phantasmagoric spectacle, when red-hot scarlet lava pours from the top of a mountain shrouded in poisonous smoke - a living fire from the very heart of the Earth. And it brings death to everything that was not lucky enough to be near the bubbling vent - heat, sulfuric fumes, hot magma destroy everything in its path. But despite the fact that the volcano is the wrath of the Earth itself, the apotheosis of the destructive potential of elemental fire, it is in this hellish flame that beautiful gems are born - when lava freezes forever in inactivity, a vitreous solid mass forms in it ... From the dossier: Obsidian is a glassy volcanic rock . It is formed during the solidification of viscous acidic lava. Hardness 5-6 on the Mohs scale, density 2.3 g/cm3, silky, glassy luster. Other names: obsidan, resin stone, royal agate, bottle stone, mountain tree, Icelandic agate, wasser-chrysolite, mountain jet, Persian, snow...

• Oligoclase - sun stone

  View all Oligoclase products>>> The Sun is the star of our galaxy. Without it, life on planet Earth will die out. The sun is the first god of man, and he sees him everywhere: the circle of the sun, the light of the sun, the color of the sun. The most beautiful and precious beings and objects in the human heart are compared to the sun. And gems, too, of course. How many stones are named after him! Amber is called a sun stone, heliodor and heliotrope also keep the sun in the name, and many other words, on different languages meaning "sun", gave names to gems. Sun stone - this can only be called a very beautiful gem that brings joy and warmth. Like oligoclase. From the dossier: Oligoclase is a rock-forming mineral from the feldspar group (plagioclase subgroup), which is a mixture of 10-30% anorthite (calcium) and 70-90% albite (sodium). Hardness 6.5-7.0 on the Mohs scale, density 2.64-2.66 g/cm3, glassy luster, greasy. Other names:...

• Onyx - light from ancient days

  See all Onyx products>>> Among the sages and thinkers that human civilization has ever cultivated, there are many names that are still pronounced with reverence or admiration - however, neither Greek philosophers nor medieval scientists can compare with a certain ruler whose the name is truly on everyone's lips even today, after a good three thousand years, and his name was Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. Among all his deeds, one stood out in particular - the construction of the legendary Temple, about which to this day there are heated debates among theologians and simply curious people: was it, and, most importantly, what was it like? They say that its roof was made of pure gold of the wall - from precious metals, marble and no less precious Lebanese cedar, and the Temple allegedly had no windows at all, and light penetrated it in a miraculous way - however, this myth has long been successfully debunked, because that the stone from which the walls were erected freely passed ...

OPAL Opal occupies a worthy place among precious stones. Opal consists of water and silicic acid, in fact, it is a variety of quartz. The noble opal contains up to ten percent water, so these stones must be worn. If the opal dries out and moisture leaves it, it can crack and completely lose all its jewelry properties. In addition, excess moisture can also damage the stone. It should be said that these are rather soft stones that need additional protection in jewelry. Opal can be completely dissolved in hydrofluoric acid. Three types of opals are used in jewelry - black, which has a dark blue color with a hint of other colors, white opal and orange-red. The best collection of opals in the world is kept in Vienna. Almost all opals (up to 95 percent) are mined in Australia. The main advantage of opal is that under the influence of the light of the sun, it is able to consistently emit various rays, thus causing...

• Opal - rainbow in the palm of your hand

  View all products from Opal>>> Among the numerous attractive qualities of a precious stone, which ultimately determine its value and status, only a jeweler or a mineralogist will talk about the degrees of cleavage, density or specific gravity, evaluate the fracture and ease of processing. We, who are not so well versed in gemology and other complex sciences, meet gems “by clothes” - only the appearance of the stone and the beauty of its color will be decisive, and here the richer and more interesting the “face” of the mineral, the more chances it has to be bought as as soon as possible, because its main “task” is to serve as an object of admiration. Alas, you can’t buy everything at once - therefore, in a jewelry store, eyes sometimes run up from a variety of shades: scarlet ruby, cornflower blue sapphire, bright green chrysolite, white and pink pearls, violet amethyst, fiery carnelian, golden heliodor, velvety black jet, cherry pomegranate ... And buyers freeze, trying to throw one ...

• Ophiocalcite - a stone from the ancient world

  Ophiocalcite - a stone from the ancient world See all Ophiocalcite products Fast forward twenty-five centuries and imagine the front hall of a spacious villa on the outskirts of Rome. The first rays of the rising sun penetrate through the high arched windows, illuminating the plastered walls covered with colorful frescoes, silk bedspreads on exquisite beds and bronze statues of the gods. The rays of the sun play on the patterned slabs of the mosaic floor, whose whimsical design is as fresh as the cool morning of the ancient and young world. The shades are combined into a single pattern, and it is impossible to believe that this is actually a mosaic made up of pieces of colored marble. The graceful legs of a young maid, carrying a jug of spring water for her morning bath to her noble mistress, are counting the shiny slabs, but suddenly the girl, having heard the morning birds singing, slips, and the heavy bronze jug falls on a stone with a clang. The maid rushes to her knees in horror and carefully...

• Pegmatite - stone writing of nature

  See all products from Pegmatite>>> And when God stopped talking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him two tablets of revelation, tablets of stone, on which it was written with the finger of God... And Moses turned and descended from the mountain in his hand were two tablets revelations, on which it was written on both sides: on both sides it was written. The tablets were the work of God, and the writings inscribed on the tablets were the writings of God. (Old Testament, Exodus) From the dossier: Pegmatite is a coarse-grained potassium feldspar with regularly oriented wedge-shaped ingrowths of quartz, reminiscent of ancient writings. Other names: written granite, Jewish stone, Jewish spar, graphic pegmatite, teacher's stone, etc. The term "pegmatite" refers not so much to graphic pegmatite specifically, but to a certain type of igneous rock, coarse-grained, occurring in the form of veins, lenses, nests and dikes. Veins...

• Mother of pearl - "mother of pearls"

  View all Mother-of-Pearl products>>> Gemstones have their own complex hierarchy, and their value is determined not by composition or form, but by beauty and the ability to give birth to tenderness and admiration in the human heart. An ornamental stone is not always a piece of rock mined in a deep mine where daylight has never penetrated; there is a special group of gems of organic origin that are part of nature - tree sap, petrified water drops, mollusk saliva do not seem to be romantic objects, but after a lot years of gradual natural changes, these prosaic things turn into wonderful decorations, not inferior in beauty to the glassy luster of coal derivatives. From the dossier: Mother-of-pearl consists of carbonic lime containing a small admixture organic matter and 2% water. Harvested in sea shells (families Meleagrina, Turbo, Trochus, Haliotis, Nautilus, Strombus, Cassis...

• Petersite - a stone of storms and change

  View all Petersite products>>> From ancient times, people sought protection from the hostile world in the objects that surrounded them, endowed them with the properties of revered animals, hoping that things inspired in this way would protect them or transfer part of the animal's power. What appeared to be the same seemed to be the same. Now it is difficult to imagine the superstitious fear that gripped a person who first noticed how a gem "looks" at him, as if with a tiger or cat's eye. But the echoes of these sensations have been preserved in the souls of people to this day, therefore mysterious, even mystical, names are given to minerals to this day, and the form, as you know, determines the content. So, in the world of gems, another “eye” was opened - the “falcon eye”, so named for its resemblance to the blue pupil of a bird. From the dossier: Petersite is a mineral from the quartz group, with inclusions of crocidolite (blue asbestos, blue iron ore) or torendrikite. Hardness 5.0-6.0 on the Mohs scale, density 2.3...

• Pyrite - golden flame

  View all products from Pyrite>>> What are precious stones woven from? From silky shine and crystal chime, from smart names chemical elements and pieces of ancient coal, from rolling sea waves and the hot sun, from resin and saliva of pearl shells frozen in time immemorial, from frozen water and air bubbles ... It seems that all the elements and natural forces tried to create these amazing children of Mother Earth , passing them their energy, power and beauty. And only one element - the most dangerous of all, the only one that cannot stand empty touches, but at the same time, for many millennia, carefully supports humanity, whose structure is not amenable to chemical analysis and seems to be something else that came from a parallel world or, perhaps, , from heaven, - practically does not participate in this creative process. And there are almost no stones that would hide its breath in their depths. But "almost" is not...

• Prehnite - grape jade

  View all Prehnite products>>> The Carthusian monks have exclusive rights to the production of Chartreuse liqueur. They have kept the list of ingredients a secret since the 17th century. This is one of the oldest French liqueurs, known for its wonderful herbal taste, and most importantly - a great color. Chartreuse comes in green and yellow. Yellow is as golden as sunlight, while green is a translucent emerald. As there are cognac diamonds, wine topazes and rare champagne-colored orthoclases, so there is a chartreuse-colored stone - the king of liqueurs. This stone is prehnite. From the dossier: From the dossier: Prehnite is a mineral, aluminum and calcium silicate. Hardness 6.0-6.5 on the Mohs scale, density 2.8-2.9 g/cm3, glassy, ​​mother-of-pearl luster. Other names: Cape chrysolite, Cape emerald, edelite, chiltonite, doupite, prenitoid. By the synonyms of prehnite, you can see what stones it was compared with, confused or given out for what: emerald and ...

• Rauchtopaz - smoke screen

  View all products from Rauchtopaz>>> Rauchtopaz – a smoke screen… The bewitching syllables of mantras that a half-naked thin man in a white turban quietly sings under his breath form a single melody, as if invented in another world. There is no one here except him - gray-bearded, with brown skin parched by the Indian sun, completely immersed in meditative ecstasy. Twilight shadows peer into the windows of an ancient temple lost in the jungle and go out on marble slabs chipped by time, and the last rays of sunset turn thick clouds of fragrant smoke rising from copper censers with sandalwood and myrrh into bizarre luminous figures dancing around a sitting in a lotus position sage and embracing an iridescent transparent stone lying in front of the meditator on a rough floor. He himself looks like smoke, frozen forever, like twilight light embodied in matter, golden-gray with a lilac tint, already felt on ...

• Rhodolite - pomegranate-strawberry dessert

  View all products from Rhodolite>>> Stones are paradoxically similar to people, and if you think about it, among the stones there are recognized geniuses - diamonds, and modest hard workers - jasper, serpentine, onyx, etc. And there are those who give their glory, doing all the work and remaining in the shadows, of course, not without the help of people. Such are the rhodolites, which have been destined to imitate the ruby ​​and the noble red spinel, although they are members of an ancient and respected family. From the dossier: Rhodolite is a red-pink variety of pyrope, pyrope-almandine series (a group of garnets). Hardness on the Mohs scale - 7.0-7.5, density - 3.79-3.93 g / cm3, glass luster. Other names: pyrandine (pyrope + almandine). Rhodolite was often confused with rubies and spinel not only by those who found them, but also by sellers and even specialists. Garnets in their long history were often passed off as rubies, and this was done intentionally, but not in the case of the first rhodolites, which were identified as...

• Rhodonite - eagle stone

  See all Rhodonite products>>> Perhaps best time days - before dawn, when in the east the horizon slowly brightens and blooms with all the shades of dawn, from deep scarlet to light white-pink, and then the sun, ray after ray, appears in all golden shining beauty, like a huge jewel pinned to the crimson sky . I want to capture this moment in my memory forever in order to constantly admire the beautiful picture of the awakening of the sleepy world - but, alas, it is so fleeting that we are left with only dead photographs, unable to convey the full depth of emotions and sensations in the face of the pink-winged dawn goddess Eos. However, fortunately, Nature took care of this as well - we have another reminder of the dawn, a unique pink stone, whose whimsical color transitions immediately remind you of the first minutes of the morning, the shy and bright blush of the heavens, it was not in vain for many centuries before us that it was called the "stone of the morning dawn "... From the dossier:...

• Rhodochrosite - Inca rose

  View all products from Rhodochrosite>>> Aunt Lena has returned from another trip abroad. This time she was in South America. Ruslana was asking for words from the film: “I am Aunt Charlie from Brazil, where there are many, many wild monkeys,” when she stood at her aunt's door and pressed the bell. But my aunt was not from Brazil, she had just returned from Argentina. - Previously flourished on this earth ancient civilization Inca, - said the aunt, pushing the boxes, not yet dismantled after the flight. - Probably, in these boxes there is Inca gold, - Ruslana jokingly suggested. Aunt Lena smiled enigmatically. “Better,” she took out a bundle from a large box, “an Inca rose.” - And unfolded this bundle. Ruslana at first thought that it was indeed a huge flower, but then she realized that it had the shape of a bowl. And the color! What color was that! Light pink, dark pink, crimson, fuchsia circles spread out in waves from the middle of a half-meter bowl. - This…...

• Rose quartz - the juice of the earth

  View all Rose Quartz products>>> Love is the main driving force of humanity. How many empires have fallen due to momentary weakness, how many wars have been started because of beautiful people who gathered thousands of ships on their way! There has not yet been found someone who could truly explain what the secret of this changeable and unique feeling is - but it has countless types and shades, and everyone probably understands it in their own way. Of course, the world of gems did not stand aside - gems have long served as an expression of emotions, were associated either with the happiness of a shared feeling, or with the sadness of a broken heart, they were talismans with which lovers swore allegiance or bewitched the chosen ones. Here is the mature passion of the color of pomegranate, and the scarlet-ruby ardent youthful attraction, and the fidelity of amethyst, and the sexuality of tourmaline, and the femininity of emerald, and the dreaminess of pearls ... However, the main color of love is pale pink, a symbol of romance and tenderness, ...

• Ruby - the king of gems

  View all ruby ​​products>>> Acquaintance with this stone began many centuries ago in the mystical hot India of ancient days, where dense jungles hid mysterious temples of cruel gods, caste differences turned out to be insurmountable, and constant bloody battles raged between local princes. The greatest empire in the world, India was literally drowning in unthinkable luxury - and this mainly concerned the great rajas, who collected precious stones and gold in the same way that others today collect postcards or porcelain figurines. After all, it was India that was destined to become the primary source of gems, truly world mines, from where sparkling diamonds, deep blue sapphires, grassy emeralds, iridescent cat's eye floated first to Egypt, Rome and Greece, and then to Europe and Russia. Probably nowhere did the gems love so earnestly and sincerely, appreciating them more life- one's own and someone else's, higher than love, more expensive than power. They fought and died for them, and...

• Fish eye (see eye stones)

  Fish eye (see eye stones)

• Sapphire - blue waters of time

  View all Sapphire products>>> No matter how great a person is, there will always be a place in his soul for a small weakness great king Ivan the Terrible of all Rus', who sowed fear and horror both among the enemies of his kingdom and in his own subjects, a cruel voluptuary, ruling the country with an iron hand, had a strong addiction to gems. He, suspicious of people, certainly trusted the superstitions and signs that were known at that time about the sparkling stones he loved so much and spent a lot of money on replenishing the treasury with new jewelry - gold frames of the Gospels and icons, goblets, rings, mantles, embroidered with gems ... And his most expensive acquisition was a staff allegedly made from a unicorn horn - but not so much the miraculous horn attracted the king, but the magnificent blue stone crowning the staff, which the formidable ruler invariably preferred to all others, believing that it helps to identify traitors and ...

• Sardonyx - father of stones

  View all products from Sardonyx>>> Claudius Caesar wore emeralds and sardonyx. The first of the Romans to wear sardonyx, as Demostratus says, was Africanus the Elder, and since then this precious stone has been the most noble among the Romans. (Pliny the Elder.) From the dossier: Sardonyx is a variety of agate characterized by alternating red-brown, brown-brown, white and bluish stripes. Hardness 7.0 on the Mohs scale, density 2.5-2.6 g/cm3, silky, glassy luster. Other names: agate onyx, carnelian onyx, ribbon agate. Sardonyx (Greek onyx - nail and sard - Sardis, the capital of the Lydian kingdom) combines the best qualities of the chalcedony family: stripes of agate and onyx, warm light colors of carnelian and dark sard, bluish tones of sapphirine. People simply could not ignore such a stone, and it was already known and respected in Ancient Egypt: at Queen Cleopatra in the 1st century BC. was a favorite vessel of sardonyx with...

• Selenite is a lucky stone

  See all products from Selenite>>> Having learned so much about the beneficial effect on a person of small "earthly helpers" of semi-precious stones, talismans and other catalysts and energy conductors, today we look down on the past generations somewhat down. How could they live in an absolute spiritual vacuum, when any manifestation of belief in the supernatural was literally outlawed? However, nothing grows out of nowhere - and our ancestors, of course, also kept grains of ancient knowledge about the nature of things, even if they were not spoken about publicly, as they are today. And in any old tradition that now seems strange and even vulgar, a certain meaning was laid - to take at least such a classic of the genre as the notorious seven elephants, who, standing in each apartment on a chest of drawers covered with a lace napkin, were supposed to bring prosperity and well-being to the owners. . These artifacts are ruthlessly discarded these days, though...

• Carnelian - a reflection of a scarlet sunset

  View all products from Carnelian>>> Crimea - gentle sun and warm sea, dense coniferous forests and impregnable mountains, extinct volcanoes and lost ruins of mysterious ancient cities... clear blue water, and small towns and villages, among which Koktebel is especially famous - the famous Max Voloshin settled here at the beginning of the 20th century, hosting either Mikhail Bulgakov, then Osip Mandelstam, then Alexander Grin, then Marina Tsvetaeva. And the hospitable host presented each guest with an unusual local pebble, which at that time was strewn with a bay at the foot of the extinct volcano Karadag. It would seem strange - why do great people need simple pebbles, maybe there is a hidden intent, a language of symbols? But in fact, everything is simpler: pebbles were not simple, but semi-precious, and even in tsarist times it was actively used to create...

• Simbircite - a contemporary of dinosaurs

  See all Simbircite products>>> What do you think is the main distinguishing property of precious stones, what distinguishes them from all other materials and substances that exist on our planet? No, not external beauty at all - although, of course, it is also of paramount importance, however, we know a lot of beautiful creatures of Nature, but their age is usually fleeting. Gems, on the other hand, live for millennia, not changing at all with time - it seems that it does not exist for them at all. Sparkle, brilliance, play of light - all this creates a feeling as if only yesterday this crystal was mined from the depths of mountains or from the bottom of a river, while in fact its age is calculated not in years, but in geological periods. However, there are exceptions to every rule. “The old gem is absurd” - you will say, and you will be partly right: it’s just that some minerals already come to us as “old men”, and instead of shining eternal youth, they represent the wisdom of maturity ....

• Scapolite - prince of the mineral kingdom

  About 4,700 minerals are known to people, and together with various varieties - more than 11,000. Of these, about 200 stones are used in jewelry, depending on fashion, the discovery of new varieties, new deposits, or, conversely, the depletion of already known sources. Many of the gems regularly serve a person both on holidays and on weekdays: they can be just decoration, or they can be used in various industries, like diamonds, which are both “girls’ best friends” and “technical raw materials”. But there are such minerals and their varieties, which from the moment of their discovery are destined for jewelry fate; they will be part of luxurious jewelry and an object of desire, admiration, passion. These are the princes of the mineral kingdom, beautiful "loafers" and most often - little-known, new or rare stones, like scapolite. From the dossier: Scapolite is a mineral, calcium and sodium aluminosilicate with a variable composition. Hardness 5.0-6.0 on the Mohs scale, density 2.5-2.7 g/cm3,...

• Sodalite - a stone that fell from the sky

  View all Sodalite products>>> Since ancient times, the immense blueness of the sky has inexplicably attracted people. Who has not been visited by the desire to take off like a bird and conquer the boundless blue sea above your head! It is in the sky in all religions that the dwellings of the Gods are located, and pure shades of blue and blue have long been associated with wisdom, spiritual light and hope. Is it because the gems of heavenly flowers are probably the most popular stone guests in any home, because they are so similar to pieces of the sky that fell to the ground and brought us divine gifts ... Among the blue and blue stones, sodalite stands apart - a mysterious and rather rare semi-precious stone. The history of sodalite is dark - in Europe, sodalite first became known only in the last few centuries, and the stone was first described in the literature in 1811. Neither Pliny nor Herodotus mention sodalite, it is not in the medieval "Lapidaria" - and this despite that he was famous...

• Staurolite - the cross not made by hands

  View all products from Staurolite>>> The second day little Nathaniel wandered through the enchanted valley in search of a path that would lead him home. And although he considered himself brave, he was truly frightened when he saw that it was already getting dark, and realized that he would have to spend another night in the forest without food. All that remained was to make a fire and wait for the morning. The night was moonless and black as soot, and from this darkness the shining eyes of night creatures sometimes looked at the boy. Sitting by the fire, Nathaniel wept because he thought he was already a man at twelve years old, since his father even gave him a gun, and now it is broken, and he himself is lost. He realized that he had acted stupidly, having gone into the forest without food, alone, without telling anyone, and all this out of a desire to show off his prey. Raising his eyes, he almost jumped in fright: right in front of him, by the fire, stood a tall, dark figure. It was a man in a buckskin jacket and trousers, a rabbit fur headdress with...

• Sugilite - the stone of the color of kings

  The Laura Holt Detective Agency has been hired to guard and transport a rare South African stone, royal lavulite. Young Pierce Brosnan, as an honest and handsome thief, saves gems from greedy bandits. This is briefly the content of the first series of the most popular detective series in the United States in the eighties, Remington Steele, which made Pierce Brosnan famous. Yes, Brosnan was first Mr. Steel, and then Mr. Bond. But that's not the point. The main thing is that before this series, no one had ever heard of any kind of lavulite. But this stone is not an invention of writers and producers, it really exists, it is really rare and valuable, and partly thanks to the series, his jewelry career has taken a new turn. From the dossier: Sugilite is a ring lithium silicate of potassium and sodium. Hardness 5.5-6.5 on the Mohs scale, density 2.7-2.8 g/cm3, glassy to waxy luster. Other names: lavulite, sagilite (erroneous), purple turquoise, royal azel....

• Soapstone - the fiery heart of Finland

  See all Soapstone products>>> images/s1/public/publication/138.jpg" alt="Soapstone – the fiery heart of Finland" />заре мира, когда человека не было и в помине, нашей планетой правили стихии – огонь, вода, лед и земля сходились в длящейся веками бесконечной битве. Менялись очертания континентов, появлялись новые моря и реки, земля дымилась от извержений вулканов и дрожала от землетрясений. Именно тогда однажды в районе будущей Карелии разверзлась очередная бездонная трещина, и в недра планеты потекла расплавленная лава, чтобы остынуть в темных глубинах, потом снова загореться от нового извержения соседнего вулкана, вновь остынуть… Планета давно уже успокоилась, и старые вулканы превратились в обычные мирные горы. А с тех древних времен остался удивительный камень, созданный в самый «горячий» период истории Земли – туликиви, огненный камень Севера. Немного науки: Талькохлорит - мягкий древний (протерозойский)... !}

• Tanzanite - African sapphire

  Tanzanite See all Tanzanite products>>> The world of stones is a special universe filled with beauty and harmony. A special niche is represented by rare stones, which include tanzanite. The history of its discovery is similar to an African fairy tale, and the variations of shades - from blue to violet - make fashionistas swoon at the mere glance of this stone. Tanzanite is often referred to as the African sapphire of the 20th century. And this is no coincidence. Once, in 1966, a blue-lilac stone was discovered not far from the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, which amazed everyone with its purity and transparency. This property was immediately noticed by famous jewelers - tanzanite became famous thanks to exquisite jewelry from Tiffany and actress Elizabeth Taylor, who greatly appreciated the products with this rare mineral. In the 70s of the last century, a fashion for African ethnicity arose, and this stone came in handy. It was considered not only a curiosity, which was chosen by actors and musicians, ...

• Tanzanite - the soul of Africa

  See all Tanzanite products>>> Africa is the most ancient and mysterious continent that has not yet revealed all its secrets. Nowhere else do jungles coexist with snow-covered mountain caps, dry savannah with penguin nests, turbulent rivers with dead deserts... Africa's semiprecious wealth seems boundless - Kimberley diamonds, emeralds and sapphires become welcome guests in the most famous jewelry workshops in the world. And it was from here that a new and surprising world came beautiful gem- "African sapphire" tanzanite. From the dossier: Another name for the mineral is blue zoisite. Blue and violet colors are due to the admixture of chromium and vanadium ions. Crystals are transparent. Luster - glass. Hardness - 6.5-7.0 on the Mohs scale, density - 3.1-3.5 g/cm3, perfect cleavage. The discovery of tanzanite was as accidental and spontaneous as a tropical downpour - in 1967, the shepherds of the Masai African tribe found at the foot of...

• Tiger's eye (see eye stones)

  View all Tiger's eye products>>> People have long endowed gems with magical, inexplicable power, and there are countless romantic legends explaining the origin of this or that stone. Someone said that gems are stars that fell from the sky, someone said that these are traces of God who once walked the earth ... A variety of color combinations and visual effects prompted truly poetic hypotheses that were born in the young ancient world - pearls were considered dew that fell at sunset at the mouth of a water lily, rock crystal - frozen ice, milk opal - the milk of a sacred cow, serpentine - flax woven by mountain craftsmen ... Sea foam, Apache tears, moonstone, venus hair, peacock stone, serpentine, firestone, thunderbolt, bloodstone - all natural phenomena seem to be reflected in the names of precious stones; myths come to life in them and time itself is reflected. However, the names do not appear just like that - any designation of a stone, of course, ...

• Tinguait - natural painting

  View all products from Tinguaite>>> Most geological descriptions contain many names of different rocks. Any self-respecting lover of minerals knows such minerals as granite, marble or gneiss. These breeds have long been successfully used by mankind in everyday life. But few of them know anything about Fenit or Khibinit, and even more so about Yakut or Tinguaite. Many of these breeds are not inferior to the time-tested either in beauty, or in strength, or in price. Some are used not only as a facing or landscape stone, but also as a valuable ornamental stone, especially when it comes to green, similar to malachite, a color rare among ornamental stones. Such as the unique tinguaite. From the dossier: Tinguaite is an alkaline vein rock, consisting of feldspar (45%), nepheline (35%) and aegirine (about 20%), apatite, sometimes with biotite and alkaline amphibole. In addition to tinguaite itself, they distinguish ...

• Thomsonite - pebble with polka dots

  In Minnesota, on the shores of Lake Superior, there was excellent winter weather. Actually, it differed little from the one near Moscow, even the landscape observed around the hospitable big house differed little from the Russian one. Aunt Lena's friends invited her to stay, knowing that she was planning a trip to several states. Aunt Lena took her niece with her. But here it was not so much fun, only entertainment was walking along the shore of the lake, which was just huge, almost like the sea: its shores were not even visible. Is there anything interesting to be found here? Ruslana was surprised. - Everywhere you can find something interesting. Let's go to the shore, take a walk, maybe luck will smile at us. For about half an hour they wandered along the coastline, admiring the beauties of nature. Suddenly Aunt Lena bent down and picked up a pebble. - Here he is. Look, Lana, how pretty. Ruslana came closer. - Oh, really, what a cute pebble - with polka dots! And the polka dots are striped, like little eyes, black and red. What is this...

• Topaz - the stone of the Isle of Mists

  View all Topaz products>>> Clean as a drop of morning dew, but able to cut glass like a knife through butter. Golden like thick olive oil, pink like the dawn, or clear like a tear. They absorbed both the yellow-green color of the first sticky leaves, and the bright blue of a summer night, and the crimson-yellow flashes of autumn leaves, and the steel-blue winter sky. Sometimes they are yellow and iridescent, like a cat's eye, sometimes they are changeable and polychrome, like chameleons, combining all the colors of the rainbow, or glowing in the dark, like a precious beacon. Do you think that we have planned to describe all the gems at once in one article? You are mistaken - all these are the characteristics of one, but an outstanding gem, whose varieties would be enough to replace almost all other non-ferrous minerals ... From the dossier: Topaz is aluminum fluorosilicate. Hardness 8.0 on the Mohs scale, density 3.5 g/cm3, glassy luster. Other names - Siberian diamond...

• Turkvenite - a new age of turquoise

  View all products from Turkvenite>>> For the fifth millennium, people have been using stones in jewelry; for centuries, stones have fascinated people and continue to this day. Once they had value in themselves, without any consideration of their value. And it was an era of pure enjoyment of the beauty of stone. But soon a person begins to sell and buy stones, barter and collect them, and they become unwitting participants in the race for profit. The more beautiful and rarer the stone, the more expensive it is - this was known even before our era. And here it is, the dream of all money-grubbers, a stone that can be anything you want: you want - turquoise, and you want - coral or lapis lazuli. And now he is turned into turquoise and plays his role admirably. Few buyers know how handsome he is without a mask. From the dossier: turquenite is a kind of howlite, calcium borosilicate. Hardness 3.50 on the Mohs scale, density from 2.53 to 2.59 g/cm3. Luster is silky, porcelain after polishing. Other names:...

• Tourmaline is a changeable stone

  Tourmaline See all tourmaline products>>> Catherine II not only loved jewelry, she truly adored them. The extravagance and splendor of her court became a legend, and the great sovereign herself loved to play a game or two of cards during a break from the affairs of the sovereign, putting a handful of sparkling diamonds at stake. The gifts of the Empress were also magnificent - after all, in that era it was customary to bring, first of all, luxurious jewelry, and jewelry was both a sign of attention and official awards. Infinitely generous, she herself often received beautiful jewelry from friends, comrades-in-arms and allies - and, of course, she could not resist when, in 1777, the Swedish king Gustav VIII presented her with a skillfully carved raspberry-red grape bunch weighing 255 carats, framed with green enamel leaves. A huge, iridescent stone looked like a sweet delicacy that I really wanted to taste - that ...

• Ulexite - cat's secret

  View all Ulexite products>>> Cats are strange, mysterious and inexplicably charming creatures that have attracted people since ancient times. Having come a long way from sacred animals to pets, in different eras they were considered either the personification of the gods, or the incarnation of the Devil, they were loved and hated, but never remained indifferent to them. Fluffy rumbling cozy lumps, in the blink of an eye transforming into dangerous ruthless predators, have firmly taken a place in the heart of man - it is not surprising that in all ages we have instinctively drawn to everything that is somehow connected with the cat tribe, and endowed with similar epithets and human actions, and herbs, and even stones under the general name "cat's eye" mineralogy combines many gems, different in composition, color and physical qualities, but similar in one thing: a flickering strip of light that appears on the surface of a polished stone looks like a cat's eye glowing in the dark ... From. ..

• Ulexite - cat's secret

  Cats are strange, mysterious and inexplicably charming creatures that have attracted people to them since ancient times. Having come a long way from sacred animals to pets, in different eras they were considered either the personification of the gods, or the incarnation of the Devil; they were loved and hated, but never remained indifferent to them. Fluffy rumbling cozy lumps, in the blink of an eye transforming into dangerous ruthless predators, have firmly taken a place in the heart of man - it is not surprising that in all ages we have instinctively drawn to everything that is somehow connected with the cat tribe, and endowed with similar epithets and human actions, and herbs, and even stones; under the general name "cat's eye" mineralogy combines many gems, different in composition, color and physical qualities, but similar in one thing: a flickering strip of light that appears on the surface of a polished stone looks like a cat's eye glowing in the dark ... From the dossier: Ulexite - boron atrocalcite, ore boron. Hardness 2.0 on the Mohs scale,...

• Fluorite - the river of life

  See all products from Fluorite>>> Despite the fact that it is necessary to carefully consider the world of gems from the point of view of each individual stone, because all of them are unique and interesting in their own way, and in each you can find your own unsurpassed advantages, at all times and here there is some inequality. There is the “king of gems” diamond there are undisputed leaders of the 1st order, whose advantages are not usually disputed, occupying the first lines of the conditional top list of demand there is the “elite”, quite popular among most consumers and from time to time coming to the fore there are “strong middle peasants” ”, which do not pretend to be much inexpensive and cute gems, even for “hard workers”, those stones that are used only for industrial and construction purposes, also found a place in the volatile precious hierarchy. However, there is also a strange tendency in the mineral kingdom - sometimes the stones seem to change places, like actors on the stage, and the "commoner" ...

• Fuchsite - a brilliant output of mica

  See all fuchsite products>>> Mica can, if you try, be seen in many minerals: it can be present in aventurine, in quartz and quartzite, and in the same granite. It is she who gives them shine thanks to her smallest plates. However, in its pure form, mica can be seen today only in a “work coat” - for example, in the production of complex equipment, but there are exceptions: some varieties of mica are used as an ornamental stone. Fuchsite - emerald green, shiny - one of these varieties. From the dossier: Fuchsite is a mineral, a layered silicate from the group of micas of emerald green color. Hardness 2.0-3.0 on the Mohs scale, density 2.7-3.1 g/cm3, gloss matt, pearlescent. Other names: chromic mica (mica), chromium muscovite, chrome muscovite, verdite. Fuchsite, despite its name, which is associated with a dark pink fuchsia flower, is not pink at all, but green. He was named after...

• Chalcedony - Greek guest

  View all products from Chalcedony>>> In ancient Greece, the art of mining and processing of gems rose to unprecedented heights. And respected mothers of families, and brave warriors, and wise philosophers - all the Greeks, without exception, adored the iridescent cold shine of stone, which sparkled on the fingers and in the ears of charms, adorned the chambers of luxuriously decorated villas, lined the walls and floors of majestic temples ... At first, all stones were of imported origin - sometimes whole wars were started for the sake of mastering the rich gemstone mines. Therefore, the discovery of a new gem in the city of Chalcedon on the coast of the Sea of ​​Marmara, whose palette of colors seemed to contain all the richness of colors, became so significant. The stone was called chalcedony, and this discovery marked the beginning of the creation of amazing stone jewelry - gems or cameos, carved three-dimensional images on stone cabochons. Usually blue, orange and red were used for these purposes ...

• Chrysoberyl - one in three persons

  See all Chrysoberyl products>>> Carl G. Jung's student and colleague Maria L. von Franz said that in many dreams the core of the psyche appears as a crystal. People have always been attracted to stones, perhaps because the center of the human psyche is strangely similar to a multi-faceted stone. Or maybe it's because the surprise remains unchanged that in a world full of chaos, there is something as ordered and beautiful as a stone crystal? After all, it is certainly no coincidence that many are looking for “their” stones, whether they are stones of the signs of the Zodiac or names, and many find them - not according to tables and recommendations, but intuitively, having seen and touched the gem, identifying their inner world with it. If you are dreaming of a greenish-yellow gemstone, then most likely your stone is chrysoberyl. From the dossier: Chrysoberyl is an oxide of aluminum and beryllium, a greenish-yellow, rarely colorless mineral. Hardness 8.5 on the Mohs scale, density 3.5-3.8 g/cm3, gloss...

• Chrysocolla - from the mines of King Solomon

  View all products from Chrysocolla>>> The name of the legendary biblical ruler Solomon has long become a household name - the glory of the king, who managed not only to turn his country into the most powerful and richest state of his time, but also to remain in human memory as a great sage and seer, who ruled with an iron hand, who created the grandiose Temple of gold and gems. By the way, Solomon had an abundance of the latter, because the Israeli ruler owned another semi-mythical place, which, allegedly, was located near the Gulf of Elat in the Red Sea - semi-precious mines, where not only rubies, emeralds and diamonds were mined in fair quantities, but also valuable metals and various ornamental stones. According to one version, Solomon owed his fabulous wealth to these mines. They also found in those places beautiful light sandstone with bright bluish-green veins, which is what they called - Elat stone ... From the dossier: Chrysocolla - ...

• Chrysolite - evening emerald

  See all Chrysolite products>>> It is said that three and a half thousand years ago, almost the only inhabitants of this gloomy place were hordes of poisonous snakes, and the ancient Egyptians could only be here at night without fear. It would seem that what could attract them to the barren shores corroded by volcanic activity? It was impossible to hunt or fish, much less live on the island of Zaberged in the Red Sea. But the secret is simple: people were attracted by the richest deposits of the gem, with which the pharaohs loved to decorate palaces and temples. Miners were ready to risk their lives for its green brilliance, especially since a human life in those days was worth less than a truly beautiful gemstone... From the dossier: Chrysolite is a gem variety of the olivine mineral, iron and magnesium orthosilicate. Hardness 6.5-7.0 on the Mohs scale, density 3.3 g/cm3, transparent, glassy luster. Other names: chrysolite, peridot, Hawaiiite,...

• Chrysoprase - "apple" stone

  View all Chrysoprase products>>> Vision is an amazing thing! Saying "meet by clothes", we pronounce one of greatest aphorisms of the world – after all, it is “by eye” that we often determine whether we want to live in this house, whether we like this or that person, choose clothes and arrangements, enjoy the splendor of a flowering meadow or admire the sunset. And often, sight also controls other feelings and instincts - thanks to it, we notice danger, thanks to it, we salivate at the sight of a picturesque chocolate cake, transparent citrus jelly or a juicy apple. We do not even need to smell the aroma - after all, the eyes already “know” what is tasty and what is not. But ... sometimes vision can be deceived, because in the world there are such wonderful "scammers" as gems. Their rich coloring so exactly repeats any work of nature, and jewelers and stone-cutters learned how to process them so skillfully that in the 19th century an anecdote went around Russia - like one ...

• Chrome diopside - Yakut emerald

  View all products from Chrome diopside>>> Green stones are paradoxical: they carry a combination of warm green, the color of rebirth, the color of trees, herbs and flowers, and the cold geometry of crystals, smooth and cool edges, seemingly devoid of the vital juices of the earth. Green - the earthly color that gives rise to everything growing on earth, and petrified, frozen harmony - merged into a symbol of eternity and inviolability, revered by the ancients, into an emerald green stone. From the dossier: Chrome diopside is an emerald green variety of diopside containing chromium, calcium and magnesium silicate. Hardness 5.5-6.6 on the Mohs scale, density 3.22-3.28 g/cm3, glassy luster. Other names: Siberian emerald, Yakut emerald. Diopside is rich in green varieties: laurel containing up to 4% vanadium oxide; smaragdite - an emerald-colored stone; known diopsides with the effect of a cat's eye. Of its many varieties, of course, ...

• Zircon - a kaleidoscope of desires

  See all Zircon products>>> Oh, and merry, wide and generous were the fairs in Rus'! They prepared for them ahead of time, went out in a family way, good for everyone, from old to small, there was something to do here: there are sweets for the children, and a silk muffler and leather bottle boots for the eldest son, and a painted chintz on the dress of a marriageable daughter, and a leather-bound prayer book for the pious mother of the family... The boundless sea of ​​people is rippling, flowing from counter to counter, from medicinal tinctures to casks with black caviar and live crayfish ... Away there is an inconspicuous tent in which people are crowding, more and more clear-eyed young beauties and pretty young women: here a black-eyed swarthy foreigner laid out his goods, sparkling with a white-toothed grin, he rolls sparkling pebbles on his palms, and the girls gasp and they are fascinated looking at the unprecedented splendor blazing with all the colors of the rainbow. Here comes to...

• Citrine - golden wine of youth

  View all Citrine products>>> Oh, Portugal is a country of brave seafarers and cruel conquistadors, orange groves and heartfelt fado romance! Sultry, romantic and magnificent - whoever has ever been in your hot summer embrace, he will no longer forget neither the waves licking hot sand, nor the burning gaze of a black-eyed enchantress with a scarlet flower in her hair, nor sleepless nights under a huge moon, nor the light of stars playing in a glass of strong wine ... We, the children of the north and the fog, will never understand the spirit of the South, the half-European, half-Moorish smell of roses and jealousy that hovers in the crooked narrow streets, as if descended from the pages of a chivalric romance, and will cheap souvenirs that are intended to help us in this for "turistas" - plastic castanets, crudely made straw toys and sets of postcards? Oh no - here you need something really worthwhile, something that is part of this alluring world, where everything seems to be made of gold: and the sands of endless...

• Zoisite - the basis of passion

  In the picture gallery of stones there are works for every taste. Classic watercolor landscapes of agates, calm and thoughtful, as if from the canvases of A. Savrasov, almost space shots of petersite, similar to the paintings of astronaut A. Leonov, small graphics of tinguaite - modern of the early 20th century. And impressionism is simply created to be embodied in stone. Many gems can be compared to the paintings of the Impressionists, but none was called art stone, or Picasso's stone. This stone seems to illustrate all periods of the great artist's work: both his early work in the style of pure impressionism, and Cubism, created by him, graphic and bright. From the dossier: Zoisite is a mineral, hydrous silicate of aluminum and calcium, found in metamorphic rocks. Hardness 6.0-6.5 on the Mohs scale, density 3.2-3.4 g/cm3, glassy, ​​mother-of-pearl luster. Other names: saualpit (saalfpit, saalfpit), aniolite, orthozoisite, art stone. Zoisite belongs to the epidote group,...

• Charoite - lilac miracle of Siberia

  View all products from Charoite>>> How often it happens in a person's life: it seems that everything is known about the subject, and there are no white spots on the map of knowledge at all, but no - Nature suddenly turns the other side and presents something new, an amazing discovery that overturns all previous ideas and changes reality. There are few such cases, but they are all extremely significant. And if you think that you know everything about gems, then you are most likely mistaken - simply because not all gems are known to us. And the proof that new discoveries still excite masters and connoisseurs of art from time to time is the discovery at the end of the 20th century of a new unique stone called charoite. Something magical is already heard in the name itself - it seems to reflect the blue-violet jets of the cold Yakut river Chara, on the banks of which there is the only deposit in the world...

• Shaitansky overflow - native Ural minke whale

  See all products from the Shaitan overflow>>> Long time ago, when the mountains on the earth flowed like water, in one place magma poured onto the surface and froze. Volcanoes exploded on the earth, the sea was agitated, then the jungle grew and huge dinosaurs roamed, then people appeared, and in the frozen magma that turned into granite, its own quiet life flowed. When earthquakes happened, this life took a new turn. And so, three hundred million years later, the Great Ruler sent a man to this place. He had to find and send her rare and beautiful stones. One day this man was walking and saw a stone block, so, nothing special. But he hit it with a hammer, the block cracked, and inside the block there were beautiful intricate patterns of stripes. The stripes shimmered like silk and shone in the sun. The ruler was sent a stone, and she instructed to make several objects out of it for herself and even carved some things herself, because she considered this ...

• Spinel - the sparkling stone of warriors

  See all items made from Spinel>>> Among the treasures of the English crown there are many outstanding gems - each of them has its own amazing story, often full of the most incredible myths and superstitions. Take, for example, the “Black Prince” ruby, which belonged to the Infante Edward of Wales, the legendary Briton, famous for his militancy, he himself attributed his victories to black-as-night armor and a scarlet gem talisman, which allegedly guaranteed him success and bestowed an indomitable desire for the goal. After the death of Edward, the ruby ​​passed to Henry V, who adorned his helmet with it, in one of the battles a monstrous blow from an enemy sword fell on the king's head, but - oh, a miracle! - neither the stone nor its owner was harmed at all, and subsequently the "Black Prince" was placed in the center of the British crown. However, here's the most interesting thing - it turned out that it was not a ruby, but a red spinel ... From the dossier: Spinel is the mineralogical name of tetroxide ...

• Eudialyte - "Sami blood"

  View all Eudialyte products>>> Long time ago, in distant Lapland, the Saami honored their idol-gods – seids. Between the gloomy sheer cliffs of Luyavr-Urta, above the sacred transparent Seidyavr-lake, the terrible old man Kuyva found his eternal shelter. Turned by the gods into a shadow on a rock for having attacked the Sami, he is still there, huge and black, and still fills people with the same fear as hundreds of years ago. Since then, red stones have been found in these places. Ancient legends say that it was his, Kuiva, drops of blood that turned into these same stones. From the dossier: Eudialyte is a complex silicate of sodium, calcium, zirconium with a variable composition, with inclusions of rare earth elements. Hardness 5.0-5.5 on the Mohs scale, density 2.6-3.1 g/cm3, glassy luster. Other names: Sami blood, Lappish blood, almandine spar (obsolete). Eudialyte is a rare mineral of a very beautiful deep burgundy-red tone. The name of the samples from ...

• Euclase - a fragile stone of happiness

  View all products from Euclase>>> “To Mr. A. A. Fokht. Your Majesty! I hasten to inform you about the discovery made two days ago. As you kindly deigned to offer to inform you, if an interesting specimen happens, so local miners found a crystal, which I believe is chrysolite or beryl, seven and a half lines in size. However, the old-timers from the locals, to whom I showed the find, call this stone fragile, although there is no such nickname for chrysolite, beryl, too. If you are interested, please honor your respected answer, and we will not hesitate to send you the said stone. In anticipation of your honorable answer, we have the honor to stay. With perfect respect, I. N. Griva. Focht folded the letter and immediately took a clean sheet of paper and a pen. “Khrupik ... If this is what I think about, I need to write to Griva as soon as possible, so that he sends a stone, and promise ... fifty rubles, then he will be surprised. What, I mean, he writes, lengths ...

• Enstatite is a super-resistant companion of diamonds

  View all products from Enstatite>>> There is such a group of minerals - pyroxenes. Among them are useful and simply beautiful minerals, there are known to the whole world, which have become national pride, and rare or little known, except for specialists, stones. Pyroxenes include jadeite, the cult stone of China, and spodumene, a source of industrial lithium, and blood-red eudialyte, from which zirconium is mined. In a word, almost any of these minerals has found its application in human life. But few have become precious stones. Enstatite is also considered to be such. From the dossier: Enstatite is a magnesian silicate from the pyroxene group, a member of a series in which the mineral composition varies from enstatite through bronzite and hypersthene to ferrosilite. Hardness 5.5-6.0 on the Mohs scale, density 3.26-3.28 g/cm3, glassy luster. Other names: victorite, shepardite, orthoenstatite, orthobronzite, etc. Once, while mining diamonds in...

• Epidote - mineral pistachio delicacy

  View all products from Epidote>>> Perhaps it is time to look at a couple of jewelry from natural stone. But from what? So, you need inexpensive, but not battered and at the same time spectacular beads? Try on beads made of pistachio epidote balls with pink spots. Do you need a ring with a beautiful transparent cut stone, and dream of an emerald? Pushkinite epidote looks great in any metal and will be a more pleasant companion than synthetic stones, and more affordable than precious ones. And if you buy a writing set, like in the Kremlin? From piedmontite, a pink variety of epidote, it is much more accessible than from a similar rhodonite. A bright and cheerful unakite - epidotized granite - like a bouquet of peonies with green leaves. In a word, he is everywhere, this cute and funny epidote, which you just want to taste: what if caramel? From the dossier: Epidote is a complex silicate of calcium, aluminum and iron, the main member of a large group ...

• Amber is a frozen piece of the sun

  View all products from Amber>>> A long time ago Phaeton, the son of the sun god Helios, begged his father to allow him to drive the sun chariot. Helios, who loves his son, agreed to the request - but the young Phaethon could not hold the reins, and the fiery chariot began to lean towards the ground. Then the seas boiled, the rivers dried up, the centuries-old forests caught fire, and the people, distraught with fear, called out to the gods. In anger, the supreme ruler of the sky, Zeus, stretched out his hand and threw Phaethon down, where he crashed against the rocks. And saddened by the death of their beloved brother Heliad, the daughter of the sun god, they turned into poplars to mourn forever for the deceased. Tears dripped from their branches into the river flowing by, instantly hardening in the sun and turning into a transparent, warm stone ... This is what an ancient Greek legend says about the appearance of one of the gems most beloved by people - amber, the stone of the sun. From the dossier: Amber (succinite) is of organic origin and is a fossil ...

• Jasper - the oldest, most beloved

  View all products from Jasper>>> From childhood, we all learned firmly and firmly what exactly labor made a person out of a monkey. However, if you look more precisely, then our ancient ape-like ancestors probably felt like people when they had the opportunity to do this work - the first, primitive tools of labor. And how symbolic that, according to historians, perhaps the very first knives were naturally sharp, without sharpening, random fragments of jasper - perhaps the first gem that mankind knew at the dawn of the world, in the gloomy and beautiful Stone Age ... From the dossier: Jasper - siliceous, sedimentary or sedimentary-metamorphic rock with various inclusions. Hardness 6.5-7.0 on the Mohs scale, density 2.6 g/cm3, silky, glassy luster. Other names: jasper agate, meat agate, blood jasper, Swiss lapis, German lapis, heliotrope, tiger stone, prase, basanite, jasper, plasma....

• Demantoid is the pride of Russian collections

• Shungite - a gift from outer space

  Do not count the mineral wealth that Mother Nature bestows on us. Red, white, yellow, colorful, transparent and iridescent, patterned and polychrome, they sparkle hotly and shimmer dully in a variety of jewelry, delight the eye with carved sculptures and whimsical mosaic panels, are actively used in the watch, medical, chemical industries ... However, appreciating one or a different stone, we usually think about its physical properties, and it is from there that its value stems: color, brilliance, size, hardness - these are the properties that, coupled with the ease of processing and the rarity of finding, make a precious stone from a piece of rock. It sometimes seems that all stones, whatever they are, are essentially the same, because they are really easy to divide and systematize into large groups according to the main external qualities, and often jewelers replace one gem with another, and fashionistas calmly put on jewelry made from human-grown minerals, Because external properties...

The Koh-I-Noor is a 106-carat diamond that was once the largest diamond in the world. Previously, it belonged to the rulers in India, and today it belongs to the British royal family and adorns the British crown.

When the Koh-I-Noor diamond fell into the hands of the British royal family, it weighed 186 carats (37 grams). Prince Albert had been looking for a diamond cutter with an impeccable reputation for a long time, and, in the end, he chose a Dutch master, a certain Mr. Cantor, who took on this difficult task. Ultimately, the diamond was presented to Queen Victoria.

The diamond became one of the decorations of the British crown, which the Queen Mother wore for the last time during the coronation, and as a sign of receiving the status of the Empress of India.

2. Millennium, football-sized carved sapphire

The soccer-ball-sized Millennium Sapphire is a gem with portraits of famous historical figures that is currently on sale for $180 million. It is promised that this 61,500-carat miracle will be exhibited in a place where everyone can look at it.

Designed by Italian artist Alessio Boschi, the Millennium Sapphire is dedicated to 134 recognized geniuses, including Beethoven, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Albert Einstein and Martin Luther King.

Millennium Sapphire is owned by a consortium of investors led by Daniel McKinney. Over the past 15 years, sapphire has been on public display only twice: in 2002 at the Oscars and two years later on the occasion of the maiden voyage of the Sapphire Princess cruise ship.

The 28 cm Millennium Sapphire was found in Madagascar in 1995. It originally weighed about 90,000 carats and lost about a third of its weight in a two-year process that was completed in 2000.

3. Don Pedro, the world's largest aquamarine

The world's largest cut aquamarine is kept in Washington DC next to the Hope Diamond and Marie Antoinette's earrings.

Mined from Brazilian pegmatites in the 1980s, this crystal is named after the first two Brazilian emperors. It is kept at the National Museum of Natural History, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution.

Don Pedro is a blue-green obelisk-shaped gem designed by the famous German jeweler Berndot Munsteiner, known as the "father of artistic carving", is 35.5 cm high and weighs 10,363 carats or 2 kg.

4. The world's largest pearl

November 21, 2010 the world's largest pearl was shown in Wenchang in Hainan Province (South China). The pearl is the largest ever discovered and is valued at two billion yuan ($301,197,000), pearls are valued more than diamonds in China. The mass of the pearl is six tons, and the diameter reaches 1.6 meters.

The stone is composed mainly of the mineral fluorite which glows green in the dark. It took three years to process the pearl and give it a spherical shape.

5. Pink Graff, the most expensive pink diamond in the world

Lawrence Graff is the world's number one diamond and gemstone dealer, and in 2010 he was able to prove his status by purchasing a 24.78 carat pink diamond.

Lawrence Graff is also the richest living British art buyer. He spent $24.1 million buying two of Warhol's best works in New York: Elvis and Campbell's Soup Can. Lawrence Graff also owns five luxury homes in England, France, Switzerland and New York, as well as a private yacht in the Mediterranean. He owns a diamond mine in the suburbs of Johannesburg, and several properties in Mayfair (one of the districts of London).

An amazing pink diamond has set a new auction price record at Sotheby's. During the auction, there was such a hype that the United Kingdom had not seen before. The stakes rose rapidly. Britain's 36th richest man and "diamond freak" ultimately paid £29 million (approximately $45 million), the largest ever paid for a jewel.

6. Ethereal Divine Carolina, the largest cut tourmaline from Paraiba

Montreal financier Vincent Boucher owns a 192-carat Ethereal Divine Carolina tourmaline valued at between $25 million and $125 million. This stone has set a new world record as the largest cut tourmaline from Paraiba.

Tourmaline from Paraiba is one of the rarest gemstones in the world, which is why it is valued by the best collectors and jewelers around the world. As a rule, in Paraiba (the name of the Brazilian region where the vast majority of tourmalines are found, including the one that belongs to Bush), 1 tourmaline is mined for every 10,000 diamonds. Boucher also reported that a total of only 50 kg of this gem have been found to date.

7. Massive 478-carat rough diamond

The massive 478-carat diamond was found at the Letseng mine in Lesotho, a small kingdom in South Africa. This is the 20th largest rough diamond ever found. It was found in a mine that has already yielded three of the largest diamonds in the world: the 603-carat Lesotho Promise, the 493-carat Leteng Legacy, and the 601-carat Lesotho Brown. A similar but smaller rough stone was recently Valued at $12 million, it is hoped that this diamond could be crafted into a 150-carat cut gem, eclipsing the current largest cut diamond, the Koh-I-Noor.

Source 8Gem sold at auction for the highest price per carat

The flawless blue diamond, recognized as one of the most unique gems, became famous in 2007 as the most expensive gem in the world. A 6.04-carat diamond was sold for $7.98 million at Sotheby's in Hong Kong. The flawless blue diamond cost $1.32 million per carat.

The buyer was Moussaieff Jewelers of London, who was delighted to purchase the diamond from a private Asian collector for his collection of rare gems. Blue diamonds are famous for their rare combination of dark color and brilliance. Although it is not the largest stone, its cut and "bright blue" color justify the high price per carat, which is almost ten times higher than the price of ordinary white diamonds.

9. The world's largest Bahia emerald

The Bahia Emerald is one of the largest emeralds. This stone of 1.9 million carats was found in the state of Bahia in Brazil. It narrowly escaped being flooded by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 while in storage in a warehouse in New Orleans. In September 2008, it was reported to have been stolen from a secure vault at Sauce El Monte in Los Angeles, California. The estimated value of this stone was approximately 400 million dollars, and its exact value is unknown. At one time, the emerald was listed for sale on eBay marked "Buy Now" for $75 million.

After the stone was brought from Brazil to the United States, there were many unsuccessful attempts to sell it, disputes flared up over the ownership of it. In the end, this emerald was seized from a gem dealer in Las Vegas and placed at the disposal of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.

10. Moussaeff, the most famous red diamond

Once known as the Red Shield diamond, the Moussaeff Red is the largest red diamond in the world and weighs 5.11 carats. Found in Brazil in the 1990s, this diamond has a triangular brilliant cut (also known as a trilliant cut). The stone was last seen by the general public in 2003 at the Diamond Splendor exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution.