Green Chalcedony Crystals from South Africa

The mineral chalcedony is a more general term for a translucent variety of quartz made up of microscopic sized crystals.  The term microcrystalline is used to describe crystals too small to be seen with the naked eye.

In its purest form chalcedony is white but impurities of other minerals cause a wide variety of colours.  Although blue tends to be known as chalcedony several other colours have their own unique name.

Stones that occur with bands are known as agate.  Reddish-brown coloured chalcedony is carnelian.  Bloodstone is a dark green chalcedony with red inclusions caused by iron oxides.

Although chrysoprase is green chalcedony not all green chalcedony is chrysoprase.

Chrysoprase is a type of chalcedony whose colour comes from impurities of nickel. Chalcedony occurs in several colours one of which is green.  Being green doesn't automatically make it chrysoprase. 

For a mineal to be classed as chrysoprase its colour must be caused by nickel.  When caused by impurities of another mineral it's green chalcedony.

We chose these tumbled stones for our collection because we loved the colour and they're beautifully polished.     

These stones come from South Africa.  They're classed as size medium although size can vary from piece to piece.

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