Amazonite Properties, Facts and Photos

What is Amazonite?

Amazonite is a blue-green variety of microcline whose colour comes from trace amounts of lead. The more lead present, the deeper the colour.

For many years, the colour was believed to come from copper.

Microcline is one of the most common feldspar minerals. Feldspar is a rock-forming mineral that accounts for more than half the Earth's crust.

Amazonite, which is not a particularly common mineral, is also known as Amazon Stone.

In the past it came almost exclusively from Miyask in the Ilmen Mountains not far from Chelyabinsk in Russia. More recently, it has been found in Colorado and a few other places in the United States and Madagascar.

Only blue-green varieties of the mineral microcline are correctly known as amazonite.
Although named after the Amazon River in Brazil, amazonite is not found there. It's believed to have been mixed up with another green stone that was found in this area around the same time.

According to Dr. J. Kourimsky, author of 'The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Minerals and Rocks', the stone that was discovered close to the Amazon was nephrite jade.

Amazonite can be found elsewhere in Brazil, particularly in the state of Minas Gerais. Other sources include Canada, Namibia, Australia, Italy and the Ural mountains of Russia.

Some of the world's finest material comes from Pikes Peak in Colorado. Much of the amazonite from this locality occurs alongside smoky quartz. Fine crystals of amazonite have recently been found in Ethiopia.

More About Amazonite

Amazonite beads that have been found date back to the 5th millennium BC. The ancient Egyptians used amazonite to carve deities and considered it a catalyst between the living and the gods.

During the Dynastic period, which began around 3100 BC, certain gemstones were frequently mentioned in ancient Egyptian texts. These included amazonite, carnelian, lapis lazuli, and turquoise. These stones were in high demand because of their colour and rarity.

Turquoise is believed to have come from the Sinai Peninsula, while lapis lazuli was transported from Badakhshan Province in northeast Afghanistan. 

In Egypt, amazonite was mined during the 18th Dynasty. This period, which lasted from 1549 BC to 1292 BC, was one of the most significant and prosperous periods.
Amazonite found in Neolithic sites in Sudan dates back to between 6000 BC and 5001 BC. Archaeologists did not originally know where the stone came from. Scientific analysis of the chemical makeup of these artifacts was compared to Amazonite found in other parts of North and East Africa. Only then was it discovered that the source of the stone was southern Ethiopia.

This suggests that people in North Africa were exchanging materials with people from other parts of the country. It also indicates that crafting became more important during this period.

In the late 1800s, Colorado became the most important mining source for the finest grade amazonite. Over time, the state has gradually matched Russia as one of the world’s leading sources of amazonite.

In 1955, amazonite was discovered in the Western Keivy Massif, northwestern Russia. Today, it's the world’s largest semi-precious amazonite deposit.

The deposit stretches 220 metres along the mountain’s western slope. Amazonite crystals, ranging from small to large, occur in shades of blue, greenish-blue, and deep green.

Amazonite grades 6 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness.

Translucent crystals are incredibly rare but have been found. Most amazonite is opaque and forms a ‘massive’ crystal habit. Crystals that form this way lack the space to develop distinctive shapes or faces, resulting in a solid, irregularly shaped mass or lump.

Article Pictures

Pictures 1, 2 and 4 were taken by Stone Mania.

Picture 3 is courtesy of Stan Celestian.

All photos are clickable. The amazonite in pictures 1 and 2 are in London's Natural History Museum. The tumbled stones are from our collection.