Peridot: August Pretty Olive Green Birthstone

Hello everyone!

I have exciting news.  In addition to having my book published, I might be moving to London!  I have been super busy trying to get everything all situated.  I have been applying to jobs over there in management positions, some of them I was asked to apply for.  For those of you who do not know, some of my cousins live in England and some of my ancestors are from that area.  I would dearly love to be able to go visit family and see the places were my family once lived.  My family is a close knit family even though we live pretty much all over the globe.  I just got a package from my cousins in Canada the other day.  Where I live we cannot get the commemorative Royal Baby Carriage PANDORA charm.  My super amazing cousins were able to snag me one and shipped it to me.  I also went to visit my aunt last weekend and got my Miss Hedgehog charm.  This is another reason for my posts being delayed.  My aunt has not been in good health recently and we’ve been worried about her.  Also, I have had some dental work done and that has been a not so welcome treat.  I hope to be getting back on my posting schedule though.  Fingers crossed.

Anyways, today I will be talking about August’s birthstone: Peridot.  This word is mispronounced nine times out of the ten.  The “t” on the end is silent.  DON’T PRONOUNCE THE “T” AT THE END!!!  This is just one of those things that annoys the ever living daylights out of me and every jeweller that I have met.  It is pronounced like this: Pear-eh-doe.  See, it is really easy to say it correctly.  Please do so.  On with the post.

Peridot is a light green olivine mineral.  While most of the time it is a yellow-green or lime green in colour it can also be found in greenish brown and dark olive green.  However, to be a Peridot it must be an olive green.  The green colour is caused by iron in the crystal as it forms.  How much iron is in the crystal determines the colour of the stone.  The darker the olive green, the more expensive it will be since finding dark olive green Peridot is difficult.  The lighter shades of Peridot are fairly easy to find in terms of gemstones and as such it is deemed a semi-precious gem.

So, where dose Peridot come from?  Olivine stones are very abundant and can be found from the Earth all the way to far off asteroids.  Apollo 15 even brought back an Olivine stone from the moon!  On Earth though, it is fairly common and is usually found in Mafic and Igneous rocks.  This basically means that Olivine is found in volcanic areas.  In fact, Papakolea Beach in Hawai’i, Talofofo Beach in Guam, Punta Cormorant Beach in the Galapagos Islands, and Hornindalsvatnet in Norway are all green sand beaches.  The green sand is actually small olivine stones that have been eroded from nearby lava flows or Mafic rocks.

For some strange reason, many people do not find the colour of Peridot appealing.  This has always confused me as there are so many different shades of olive green it can come in.  Even though the dark green Peridot is the most desired, I find that the light almost lime green shade is very pretty.  Dark stones, if you are willing to pay for them, are sometimes mistaken for the more expensive Emerald.  As with the Emerald, it may be that many people prefer a white metal jewelry which does not suit the colour of the stone well.  Green gems look better in a yellow gold mounting as the yellow can enhance the colour.  Here is a picture of several different cuts and shades of Peridot for comparison.

 

So, now that you know about the Peridot what about buying them?  Since Peridot is not a horribly rare stone, it is not the most expensive of gems.  In fact, buying a Peridot ring in 14K gold can cost you as little as $100!  Most of that price is in the mounting itself and not the stone.  As such, the chances of getting a fake Peridot are not that high.  You can go to your local jeweller and buy loose Peridot stones starting at $6 for a small one.  If you have any questions a quick trip to your local jeweller will let you know.  However, I will tell you this much, if you are paying over $2,000 for a Peridot ring you might want to ask why.  If it has diamonds in it, that might bump the price up.  If it is in 18K gold, that can also bump the price up.  However, you can find Peridot rings with about a quarter of a carat of diamonds set in 14K gold for about $1,500 plus taxes.  So, if in doubt always ask.  You do not want to end up over paying for Peridot! 

I hope that this has been helpful to you all and that you learned something!  For those of you who would like to see it, below is a picture of the Royal Baby Carriage charm as well as the Miss Hedgehog charm!  Also is a link to my book if you all would like to purchase it.  For some reason when the book was formatted it caused some strange errors that were not there in the finished manuscript.  I apologize for that.  Hopefully when the second book in the series comes out and the new edition of this first one is released it will resolve itself.  You can also go purchase it at your local bookstore.  Anyways, enjoy!

 

Stay lovely everyone!

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