Spooky Gemstone Week!
| Today we venture to the creepier side of the gemstone industry to find out how these strange, beautiful stones got their names. |
 Bloodstone is also referred to as Heliotrope in Greek, which simply
means "sun turning." Many believed that the sun turns red when this
stone is immersed in water.
 Cat's Eye displays a narrow band of concentrated light -- also known as
chatoyancy -- due to inclusions of fine, parallel fibers in the stone.
 Dragon Blood Jasper. Local legend in Western Australia, where Dragon Blood Jasper is mined, has it that the stone is the remains of ancient dragons.
 Dog Teeth Amethyst is a combination of amethyst and white quartz, and is
named after a flower, the Dog Tooth Violet, which has a similar color.
 Moonstones owe their name to the quality of adularescence -- the diffraction of light as it hits thin layers within the gem.
 Phantom quartz is a variety of quartz, or "rock crystal", that forms
over pre-existing crystals. The included crystal is visible due to some
variation in composition making the boundary of the included crystal
visible. Such crystals display the outlines of numerous smaller
crystals, known as "phantoms."
 Dumortierite is a minor blue gemstone that usually forms as inclusions
in Quartz. Its most common color is blue or grayish-blue, though pink
and purple colors are also known. "Sunset" may just be a descriptive
addition that denote a dark blue color.
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