Hemimorphite & Rainbow Moonstone

Hemimorphite & Rainbow Moonstone hand cut and polished. Set in .925 Silver.

Necklace is 18"

Center stone is approximately 1.50" x 1"

It was only in 1803 that James Smithson, a British chemist and mineralogist, discovered that hemimorphite and smithsonite are two different species. The first is a silicate, while the second is a carbonate. Gustav Adolf Kenngott, a Swiss mineralogist, invented its name “hemimorphite” in 1853.

Rainbow moonstone is a variety of labradorite. Rainbow moonstone deposits can be found in: Sri Lanka, Australia, Mexico, Madagascar, Poland, India, Canada (Labrador, China, Finland. Rainbow moonstone has a rich history and folklore that overlaps with moonstone in general. Ancient cultures, including the Romans, Greeks, and Hindus, believed moonstone was made from solidified moonbeams and associated it with the moon and feminine qualities.