22860000 22860000 (`@````````` 266 263 5 110185200 110185200 Text Box:   The Peridot is a very old gemstone, and one which has become very popular again today. It is so ancient that it can be found in Egyptian jewelry from the early 2nd millennium B.C.. The stones used at that time came from a deposit on a small volcanic island in the Red Sea, some 45 miles off the Egyptian coast at Aswan, which was not rediscovered until about 1900 and has, meanwhile, been exhausted for quite some time. Having said that, the Peridot is also a thoroughly modern gemstone, for it was not until a few years ago that Peridot deposits were located in the Kashmir region; and the stones from those deposits, being of an incomparably beautiful color and transparency, have succeeded in giving a good polish to the image of this beautiful gemstone, which had paled somewhat over the millennia.   But suddenly, in the middle of the 1990s, the Peridot was the big sensation at gemstone fairs all round the world. The reason? In Pakistan, up on an inhospitable pass at some 4000 meters (13,120 ft.), a sensationally rich deposit of the finest Peridots had been found. In tough climatic conditions which permitted the gemstones to be mined only during the summer months, the unusually large, fine crystals and fragments were brought down into the valley. These stones were finer than anything that had ever been seen before. And the deposits were so rich that the demand for Peridots can, for the present, easily be satisfied. In order to emphasize the special quality of the Peridots from Pakistan, these stones are offered as 'Kashmir peridots', following the famous Kashmir sapphires. Creative gemstone cutters have succeeded in cutting some fascinatingly beautiful one-off stones of more than 100 carats from some of the large, fine, clear crystals with their magnificent rich green! The entire Peridot story  

Text Box: Peridot Origin and Lore

Text Box: Peridot Facts ¨ Hardness: 6.5 to 7 ¨ Color: Pale yellowish or brownish green through rich vivid green. ¨ Durability: Fairly durable but brittle ¨ Availability: Available in all shades with star and cat's eye being the rarest ¨ Largest Peridot is believed to be a 310 carat belonging to the Smithsonian. ¨ Peridot is the birthstone for August ¨ Stone for the 16th wedding anniversary ¨ The worlds most important source for Peridot is near Globe Arizona. ¨ The Romans nicknamed Peridot the "emerald of the evening"  

 

Text Box: Peridot Information

  The ancient Romans were fond of this gemstone and esteemed its radiant green shine, which does not change even in artificial light. For that reason they nicknamed it the 'emerald of the evening'. Peridot is also found in Europe in medieval churches, where it adorns many a treasure, for example one of the shrines in Cologne Cathedral. During the baroque period, the rich green gemstone once again enjoyed a brief heyday, and then it somehow faded into oblivion.

 

 
 

 

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