Moonstone (Labradorite)

Item Description

Moonstone (also called rainbow moonstone) is soft milky white stone, but the most valuable variety of this Feldspar is those with a rainbow sheen. Moonstone shows a silvery or bluish iridescence, that is caused by the intergrowth of two different types of Feldspar with different refractive indexes. Moonstone was very popular with the Romans, who thought it was formed out of moonlight, also used in Roman jewelry since 100 AD. In India moonstone is considered a sacred stone to this day. This stone is from India, where a large majority of the world's Moonstone is mined these days. This "Round Cabochon" cut stone is fairly gemmy for the material, and shows the traditional blue-green "sheen" for which this material is best known. Due to the typical haziness of the material, Moonstone is either carved or cabbed, so you don't see too many Moonstones this size with good clarity like this gem.