Dendritic agate, the serenity of a white stone engraved with mineral trees

They are often mistaken for ferns trapped in stone. Yet, the black tree-like patterns that traverse dendritic agate are neither plants nor fossils: they are manganese and iron oxides, drawn by geol...

Peridot, the green stone of hope born from the fires of the Earth — how to recognize a genuine stone

Born from the fires of the Earth, peridot is one of the few gemstones that exists in only one color, and one of the only ones that is almost never treated. This article provides the guidelines to r...

Kyanite, kyanite, diopside: one blue stone, three names

Kyanite, kyanite, or diasphete: the same blue stone known by three names, long confused with sapphire. Its hardness varies depending on the crystal axis, a phenomenon almost unique in gemmology. Th...

Prehnite, a green gemstone with a very recent history

Tender and translucent green, prehnite resembles no other gemstone. Arriving in South Africa in the 18th century, it bears the name of a man rather than a myth: a brief history, a symbolism still b...

Chrysoprase, that green chalcedony worn by kings as a talisman

Green like the first leaves of spring, chrysoprase is the rarest of the chalcedonies. From the amulets of Alexander the Great to the palaces of Prussia, this stone of renewal traverses civilization...

Blue opal of the Andes — a unique color, a distinct identity, a millennia-old symbolism

From lagoon blue to milky sky blue, the blue opal of the Andes needs no rainbow to captivate—it is a stone apart in the opal family. Neither the play of colors of the Australian nor the flashes of ...

Aquamarine — from the Santa Maria Mine to the symbolism of sailors

A clear blue like lagoon water, aquamarine has endured the centuries with remarkable constancy. From Greek triremes to contemporary jewelry workshops, it embodies clarity, travel, and heartfelt dev...

Lapis lazuli — the blue rock that colored the art of the entire world

Before it was a gemstone, lapis lazuli was a pigment: the ultramarine blue that colored six millennia of civilization, from Egyptian funerary masks to the vaults of the Sistine Chapel. A stone whos...

Larimar — a blue stone born beneath the volcanoes of the Caribbean

A stone whose color resembles the sea — born from a volcanic island, in the depths of Barahona. Larimar exists nowhere else in the world.

Moldavite — What Science Says About Glass from the Sky

There is only one moldavite in the world: the one born from the sky, fifteen million years ago, above Bohemia. Everything else is colored glass.