History Turquoise, a stone ranging in color from blue to green to yellow, is filled with wonderful patterns of brown and black matrix that are composed mainly of copper deposits.... read more →
History Tiger iron (or tigereye matrix) is a quartz-lignite aggregate gemstone containing layers of vibrant golden tigereye, metallic grey hematite and rich, red jasper. Tiger iron is also sometimes called... read more →
History Look into the eye of a magnificent tiger. That creature's animal magnetism gleams in this golden-yellow, deeply banded gemstone. Tigereye (also called "tiger's eye stone") is silicified crocidolite in... read more →
History Sunstone began as a costly and little-known gemstone until deposits were found in Norway and Siberia. This gemstone has a special history in the United States, however, where sunstone... read more →
History For a stone of frequent mistaken identity, sodalite is unimaginatively named for its sodium content. The more poetic "poor man's lapis" is a common nickname for this beautiful blue-and-white... read more →
History Shungite has a long history both above and below the earth. It was first named in 1879 by Russian geologist Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Inostrantsev for deposits found near the village... read more →
History Serpentine gemstone, or "precious serpentine," was named in 1564 by Georgius Agricola (Georg Bauer) from the Latin "serpens" for its mottled and scaley appearance like a serpent or snake.... read more →
History Sardonyx can be traced back four thousand years to Ancient Egypt. For most of its history, this stone has been used to create cameos and intaglios. In Ancient Rome,... read more →
History The name rhyolite (from Greek "rhuax" for stream or flow plus "lithos" for stone) was introduced into geology in 1860 by the German traveler and geologist Ferdinand von Richthofen.... read more →
