Hello, and welcome back to the Official Nelsen’s Fine Jewelry Birthstone Blog!
August has one of the most unique birthstones in our calendar, Peridot!
Its olive color is without a doubt, its most defining trait. Olivine is a variety of Forsterite, which is a colorless silicate that takes on this unique yellow-green color that can also contain brownish hues. These gems get their colors from the amount of iron and magnesium present in the stone. The more iron present in the stone, the more of a brownish hue will be represented. Peridot is one of the only gems that has nearly the same color represented in every stone, even though they can be sometimes mistaken for Emeralds, the sure-fire way to tell if it's a Peridot is by it's distinct yellow-green/drab color.
This mineral can be found in many different forms such as in the mantle of the Earth or -in the past- meteorites. In the mantle, these gems are found in lava flows hardened in molten rock. There are many places around the Earth where this can occur, such as various parts of China and Vietnam and even in the United States. In fact, several peridot gems can even wash up onto beaches around Burma and other parts of Southeast Asia due to the formic deposits on the sea-floor that release these gems to the surface. The largest source of Peridot today is found in the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. The largest Peridot ever mined is a 310 Carat Marvel that resides in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, which, sadly, you'll just have to see for yourself if you ever decide to visit someday!
Today, we know very little surrounding the origins of where Peridot gets its name. The earliest translation of the word comes from the Old Latin Paederot and Pedoretés which translate closely to Latin for a type of opal. As far as surrounding the origins and findings of Peridot, according to The National Museum of Natural History, some of the earliest findings of the gems were by the Egyptians and Greeks located on the isles between their neighboring countries. One of these isles - where the earliest gems were found - is befitting of the name Topazios, but today it is known as Zabargad which is Arabic for Peridot!
The island of Zabargad, located in the Foul Bay of Egypt
We hope you've enjoyed this little delve into what we know about Peridot! If you or someone you know has an August birthday, we encourage you to take a look at what we are currently displaying in our store! We will see you next month when we talk about Sapphires!
Works Cited in this article contains information from the following:
https://naturalhistory.si.edu/explore/collections/geogallery/10002785
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peridot#Cultural_history