Moonstone (rare WISCONSIN locality)

Item Description

A very rarely seen Moonstone gem from Wisconsin. This locality lies on private land in central Wisconsin near the town of Wausau. Moonstone has been known for thousands of years, and documentation of the gem goes back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Greeks actually named the gem "Aphroselene" in honor of two of their gods; Aphrodite the goddess of love and Selen, the moon goddess. The Romans considered the blue sheen in Moonstone to be frozen moonbeams. Moonstone has for many years represented love, rejuvenation, prosperity and renewal. Moonstone is a gem that everybody has heard of, but few people have great examples in their collection. It refers to Feldspar (Microcline, Sanidine, Orthoclase, Anorthite, etc.) that can range from opaque to gem grade and exhibits and a pearly and opalescent "sheen" when rotated in the light. Typically this "sheen" will be a blue hue, but various shades of green, purple or pink can be present. This effect is referred to as adularescence, and is the result of intergrown crystals of Feldspar at differently oriented positions within the main mass of the Moonstone. This "Round Cabochon" cut stone is the first and only example we've had from Wisconsin and it shows gorgeous bright blue iridescence on the surface when rotated in the light. The Feldspar itself ranges from brown to black to golden hues. As an aside, the back of the stone also shows the same blue "sheen", so it has color all over. A really cool locality stone for those of you who love US gems. From the collection of Jim Houran, and accompanied by a paper from Rockhound News (vol 49, Issue #8) that details the material and the locality. The stone was collected in the April of 2020.