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Alexandrite

Faceted alexandrite table down

History and origin

The chrysoberyl mineral is mainly found under the form of transparent stones in yellow to yellow green-brown but only two varieties are very appreciated as gems: the cat’s eye and the alexandrite.
Alexandrite is a variety extremely rare of the chrysoberyl of which the colour change in green with daylight to red in incandescent light. This property is caused by the presence, in the crystal, of a very rare combination of chrome impurities in this oxide of aluminium and beryllium.
Alexandrite is a variety extremely rare of the chrysoberyl of which the colour change in green with daylight to red in incandescent light. This property is caused by the presence, in the crystal, of a very rare combination of chrome impurities in this oxide of aluminium and beryllium.
This hard gemstone (8,5 in the scale of Mohs) has been discovered in 1830 in Tsarist Russia in the Oural mountains. The red and the green were the military colours of Imperial Russia, it has been called alexandrite in honour of the anniversary of the tsar Alexander II (1818-1881).
We found alexandrite in the jewellery of this era. Master Gemmologist Georges Kunz of Tiffany house was a big admirer of this gemstone, so this firm bought a very large quantity of alexandrites and it’s this way that a quantity of rings were produced with beautiful stones from the end of the 19th century to the end of the 20th century, set mainly on platinum.
British jewels of the Victorian era also contain alexandrite.
There weren’t any other deposits known during decades, until the moment where the stones from Sri Lanka, during the Ceylon era, arrived on the market. Thereafter, in the 1980’s, a new deposit in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil was discovered. Another more recent source is Tanzania, at the border of Mozambique.

Myths and facts

Despite its recent discovery, the alexandrite has immediately captured imaginations. A novel of the author Nikolai Leskov (1831-1895) gave it the main role, the one to reinforce intuition and to be able to predict the future…
In the XIXth century of scientific mutations and progress, we could see the Magic trying to help the Science.
A French writer Eliphaz Levi (1810-1875), former clergyman and major figure of occultism has given to the alexandrite the power to lighten a medical mystery, by bringing the two colours with the one of the difference between venous and arterial blood canals.
In Russia, it stayed very popular, mainly thanks to its divination faculties, to reinforce imagination and creativity by opening a door to connect ourselves with the invisible world.
It is supposed to bring joy to neurasthenics thanks to its change of colour which reassures its owner by showing him that the appearance of things can often change and therefore giving him confidence and hope in life.
It wouldn’t have direct power of healing, but it was thought that it would increase the efficiency of medicines treating long diseases.
In addition to these properties and like many other stones, it is often worn to attract luck and love. It would also have the faculty to procure a soft energy in harmony with the Universal Love…
Alexandrite represents, with pearl and moonstone, the birthstone for the month of June.
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