Peridot

Perido gemstone cut and polished

Peridot comes in various greens, from vibrant yellow green to an olive green. It is one of my favourite stones, an almost “electric” green. It’s sometimes referred to as “olivine” because of its colour. It was extensively used in ancient times, brought to Europe by crusaders. It was used in churches and was very popular in the baroque period. It is one of the more expensive semi-precious stones, especially the larger stones. Even though it has such a stunning colour it does not hold a high commercial price relative to its beauty because of its softness. It has a vitreous and greasy lustre, and if it is under too much pressure, it not only cleaves but “bursts”, so care must be taken when setting and wearing it. Most of the rough is found in the Far East. Recently there have been some very good quality peridot coming out of Pakistan, which are a more lemon green in colour. In Russia there are some faceted peridot discovered in a meteorite that fell in 1749. They have very strong double refraction: which means that if you have a thick stone, doubling of the edges can be seen with the naked eye.