Everyday Gems of Distinction™ 18K Vermeil 5.76ctw Fluorite & White Zircon 3-Band Ring

Zircon:
Zircon often suffers for its name’s similarity to “cubic zirconia,” the simulated diamond. The stone zircon, however, is actually a beautiful natural gemstone. It is named from the Persian word “zargun,” meaning “gold-colored.” This is despite the fact that it comes in a wide range of rainbow colors . The majority of zircons are brown or yellow-brown, while pure red and green are the most valuable colors. The yellow-red to reddish-brown variety is called “hyacinth.”

For many years, the most popular type of zircon was the colorless variety. More than any other natural stone, colorless zircons produce a brilliant sparkle similar to diamonds . The most popular color today tends to be the bright pastel blue variety. Sometimes called “starlite,” blue zircon has recently become considered an alternative birthstone for December.

Zircon is one of the heaviest gemstones, meaning that it will look smaller than other varieties of the same weight. It ranks a hardness between 6.5-7.5 on the Mohs Scale and is mined in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar and Australia.

Travelers during the 11th century wore zircon amulets for protection and to encourage welcome greetings on their journeys. In the Middle Ages, the stone was said to bring wisdom and prosperity to its owner. Hindu mythology even mentions the gem when referencing the Kalpa Tree, which was a glowing tree covered with gemstone fruit and leaves of zircon.

Fluorite
Fluorite earns the reputation as the most colorful mineral in the world. A rich purple color is its most famous and popular color, but its range of colors can be extremely variable with hues of blue, green, yellow, colorless, brown, red, pink, black and reddish orange. Intermediate pastels are also possible. Fluorite’s colorless variety is a rare find that makes it highly sought-after by collectors. Its brown variety features a distinctive iridescence and the more rare colors of rose and black are very attractive and in high demand. Most fluorites have a single color, but some have multiple colors that are arranged in bands or zones corresponding to the shapes of their crystals. A single crystal of fluorite could potentially have four or five different colors. Prized for its glassy luster, its crystals range from transparent to translucent.

Fluorite is strongly fluorescent with extremely variable colors. Typically it fluoresces blue or violet, but other fluorescent colors include yellow, green, red and white. It has a hardness of 4.0 on the Mohs Scale and has been known to fade in the sunlight. The mineral is found throughout the world, including Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Morocco, South Africa, Europe, Mongolia, China and Russia. In the United States, the states in the Mississippi Valley, especially Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio, have historically contained the largest deposits, but Colorado also has ample deposits of fluorite, as well.

The word fluorite comes from the Latin word meaning “to flow.” For centuries, the ancient Egyptians and Chinese used fluorite in carvings. Carved ornaments were even recovered from the ruins of Pompeii. Fluorite today is believed to be a spiritual stone that excels at calming the spirit and mind. Used as flux in the smelting of metallic ores , fluorite was originally referred to as “fluorspar” by miners and is still called that today.