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Author Topic: Moonstone  (Read 1354 times)

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ileney

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Moonstone
« on: August 09, 2019, 08:37:05 AM »

I'm noticing many cheap white moonstone cabs lately. Are they real? Are they synthetics or lab created? Most are relatively small but they vary in size.
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lithicbeads

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Re: Moonstone
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2019, 12:14:58 PM »

Moonstone can be quite common. There was a big cliff of it in Montana that was being mined slowly by hand years ago but bad advice was given and they dynamited the entire cliff ( it was next to Butte ) ruining the fragile moonstone. Here in Washington it surrounds a certain quartz lode. The quartz was mined for many years for bottles as it was under 1% iron. The whole deposit has a feldspar moonstone rim that also has been blasted to hell. Some stones are fragile  and do not marry well to greed.I suspect they are finding lots of moonstone in Madagascar as feldspar seems to be quite common there.
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bilquest

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Re: Moonstone
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2019, 06:57:25 PM »

Could be opalite. I bought some in Quartzsite early this year from the aussies. It glows like moonstone... maybe?
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rocks2dust

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Re: Moonstone
« Reply #3 on: August 10, 2019, 08:56:05 AM »

Orthoclase moonstone comes in various grades. Pieces with very little adularescence are quite common and priced accordingly. The silky transparent pieces with strong blue glow, on the other hand, fetch very high prices.

In addition, some sell opaque pieces of feldspar with no adularescence as moonstone (if it doesn't have that shifting glow, then it isn't moonstone). Also, the so-called "Rainbow Moonstone" is a form of labradorite, rather than orthoclase, and doesn't fetch as high prices as the equivalent orthoclase material.
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gunsil

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Re: Moonstone
« Reply #4 on: September 03, 2019, 08:54:33 AM »

What I notice in the moonstone market is that there doesn't seem to be ANY of the old "Ceylon blue" moonstone around. It had a very blue flash and commanded much more than white, pink, or grey moonstone. I have a successful jewelry design that calls for 7mm round moonstones and I usually use the white ones in silver, but when I made the design in 18K I like the rarer blue stuff which no longer seems to be around.
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gemfeller

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Re: Moonstone
« Reply #5 on: September 03, 2019, 11:26:56 AM »

Gunsil, most of the fine blue moonstone in the last few decades came from a single mine in Sri Lanka.  The mine is producing very little new material and most of that production goes to Europe where its popularity (and price) is much greater than in the U.S.

The best substitute I've found is high quality "Rainbow Moonstone," a labradorite feldspar produced mainly in India.  There's a lot of junk on the market  but the top material is excellent. 
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irockhound

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Re: Moonstone
« Reply #6 on: September 03, 2019, 02:12:55 PM »

Rick, I love your depth of knowledge on Gemstones and the industry as a whole.  You are quite a valuable resource.  It always reminds me how narrow my knowledge is compared to many of the people on the forum.
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gemfeller

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Re: Moonstone
« Reply #7 on: September 03, 2019, 06:15:38 PM »

Wow Steve, my chest was getting all puffed up until I reflected that everyone here has important and unique information to share about this wide and varied field.  I've learned a great deal about many things from participating.  I appreciate your compliment and hope any future comments I make here will be of interest and use to someone.   
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