Peridot And Silver In Fashion Jewelry - A Winning Combination

Peridot has been known to man for may centuries now

. As one of the oldest gemstones, its discovery can be attributed to ancient Egyptians over four millennia ago. Even the bible mentions this beautiful stone in multiple citations. For many centuries, Brazil and Australia were the primary sources of peridot for the world jewelry markets. More recently, peridots have also been mined in the United States of America and in Mexico. However, the most noteworthy deposit of peridots was discovered in Pakistan in the mid 1990s. The deposit was identified at an elevation in excess of 4000 meters in the rugged Hindukush Mountains. The terrain is some of the most rugged and men and equipment must be transported on foot. To complicate matters further, the winters are brutal and most mountain passes leading to the mine become impassable after the first major snow storm of the season. As the result, extraction of peridot from this deposit only occurs after the spring melt and during the summer months. The effort and difficulty associated with mining peridots here are well worth it because the mine yields some of the finest specimens seen in todays jewelry markets. The stones are brought down from the mine to the valley below where they are thoroughly cleaned, inspected, sorted, and shipped to jewelers around the world. Cutting polishing of the stones however is not extensively done in Pakistan, but is instead left up to the individual jewelry designers.

Peridot has been very popular for fashion and some fine jewelry designs all over the world. The designs, patterns and complexity of the settings vary based on local culture and preferences, but the warm green glow of the stone has gained and retained universal popularity. The best quality stones have a velvety luster and appear transparent. The presence of impurities sometimes changes the color of the stone to yellow or brown. Deep green specimens are preferred over yellow or brown stones. However, the yellow and brownish specimens make for interesting accents in fashion jewelry such as sterling pendants, earrings, necklaces, and rings. It is only in fine jewelry that designers and buyers alike look for flawless green stones.

Peridot specimens are much cheaper than precious stones such as emeralds and diamonds of the same quality. The stones are usually facet-cut in order to enhance their optical properties and display their warm glow. Small stones less than 5 carats in weight are relatively inexpensive and often used in fashion jewelry. Good quality peridot specimens larger than 5 carats tend to be a little more expensive, but nonetheless, are still affordable. Gem quality specimens larger than 15 carats are rare and very expensive, but are still cheaper than diamonds of similar size and quality.

by: Dale Arnold

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