Rainbow Moonstone: The Sky Frozen in a Gemstone
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Have you ever seen the night sky reflect over a water body? Rainbow Moonstone, the clear variety of Labradorite Feldspar is the perfect combination of water and earth all in one. A bluish sheen or adularescence that gives the gemstone its name, made the Romans believe the stone came from the rays of the moon.
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| Good quality Rainbow Moonstone |
It took me some time but with my Google Nexus and my 20X loupe I’ve tried to capture exactly what I’m talking about. Its because of these parallel layers that we see the “rainbow effect”.
In Jaipur I met with some gem stone cutters with years of experience in buying and cutting these magnificent rocks. An interesting fact I learnt was when these stones are mined they come with an almost a black flaky covering, appearing worthless. When cut and polished these stones are given new life and you can then see the desirable watery blue sheen within each stone.
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| Rainbow Moonstone |