How can you tell a fake pietersite?

Identifying Pietersite Pietersite can be identified by its distinctive chaotic chatoyancy, caused by brecciated crocidolite inclusions, which appear as golden swirls. Pietersite may have dense or sparse crocidolite inclusions, resulting in a differing appearance.

Is Tiger Eye A pietersite?

Pietersite belongs to a branch of the tiger’s eye family called riebeckite. Tiger’s eye is what geologists refer to as a pseudomorph, one mineral that changes into another. Tiger’s eye began its life as the mineral crocidolite, a form of asbestos.

Is pietersite a real gemstone?

A member of the quartz family of gemstones, pietersite is a pseudomorph of quartz. Pietersite started as the mineral crocidolite–one of several minerals such as tigereye–which belong to the riebeckite family of amphibole silicates.

Why is pietersite so expensive?

Why is pietersite so expensive? This stone is very rare and only has two known localities, with only one of them still being active. This is because of the rarity and limited quantity of the stone making it highly valuable and expensive.

Is Blue pietersite rare?

This stone is very rare and only has two known localities, with only one of them still being active. In the 1990’s a small pocket was exposed in the Hunan Province of China, but was closed a few years later due to the mineral being mined out.

Is it safe to wear pietersite jewelry?

Those who collect, handle and transport raw asbestos-containing gemstones are also at risk of exposure. Pietersite contains blue crocidolite asbestos, which is considered one of the most dangerous minerals known to human health.

Is Blue Pietersite rare?

Is it safe to wear Pietersite jewelry?

What is hawk’s eye?

Hawk’s eye also known as Blue Tiger Eye or Falcon’s Eye is a blue-gray to blue-green opaque gemstone variety of fibrous quartz. Hawk’s eye is famed for its chatoyancy, reminiscent of the ‘eye of a hawk’. It is closely related to tiger’s eye and pietersite, both of which exhibit similar chatoyancy.

Is pietersite a Jasper?

Pietersite, known as the Tempest Stone, is a silicified Riebeckite with Limonite and a member of the Quartz family. Pietersite crystallizes in the form of masses in Jasper where the inclusions are pseudomorphs after Asbestos.

What gems are radioactive?

Natural radioactive gemstones

Mineral	Color	Source of Radiation
Ekanit	green, light brown	Thorium (Th)
Heliodor (Rössing deposit, Namibia)	yellow-green	Uran (U)
Monazite	brownish yellow	Thorium (Th)
Titanite (*)	yellow to brown, green to black	Uran (U), Ce, Eu, La und Th

Is Pietersite valuable?

Blue pietersite is considered amongst the most valuable of its kind, but any combination of the stone’s colors makes for an entrancing appearance.

What is pietersite and how is it made?

In short, pietersite is brecciated tiger’s eye, hawk’s eye, or both. Thanks to the brecciating process, pietersite does not feature the same simple bands of color that tiger’s eye is known for. Instead, the different colors swirl across the surface in a chaotic manner.

How can I treat or enhance my pietersite?

Pietersite is not known to be treated or enhanced in any way. Please refer to our Gemstone Glossary for details of gemology-related terms. Pietersite belongs to the large family of quartz gemstones. It is composed of both tiger’s eye and hawk’s eye.

Is pietersite hard to wear?

Even though pietersite is reasonably hard, it can still be scratched, so also keep it in its own pouch. Wearing Pietersite: While pietersite is hard enough that it is suitable for everyday wear, you still need to take care of it so you do not end up scratching it.

Are there any other gemstones that look like pietersite?

Thankfully there are really no other gemstones that resemble pietersite, so you are not likely to run into imitations. The only other stones that look all that similar are tiger’s eye and hawk’s eye, but both can easily be distinguished from pietersite because of the differences in how the gemstones form.