Moonstone (possibly Peristerite)

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 an 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 Madagascar which is a lesser known locality for the material. There are some visible inclusions in this stone, but there is an attractive golden sheen. Most often, Moonstone is either carved or cabbed, so facetted stones are not as common as one might think. This gem has an "Oval" cut.