CURRENT GEMSTONE ARTICLE

We talked about Feldspar awhile back, and how pretty they are... but I want to stop for a moment this month to talk about the difference between Natural Sunstone Feldspar (often aka Indian Sunstone or Oregon Sunstone) and commonly misidentified "Goldstone", which is a derivative of natural or manmade glass by-products. I'll keep to generalities here, but hopefully will add some clarity to this matter before this short article is spent!

In the June 2006 Gemstone Article, I said that "Sunstone is... a neighboring Feldspar to both Moonstone and Labradorite..." To add to that information, Indian Sunstone is particularly popular right now, with the nicest specimens being a deep orange/coppery sienna color with gorgeous inner sheen ~ much like the adularescence and labradorescence in Moonstone and Labradorite, respectively. Sunstone is a Feldspar crystal formed in molten lava when a certain combination of chemical elements are present at certain high temperatures, and then discharged onto the surface of the earth by volcanic activity. The crystals are released as lava wears away or is disrupted. While color preferences obviously vary, the deep orange/sienna color Sunstones with brilliant inner shiller like this one are considered to be highly desirable.

Now to contrast with Sunstone, let's switch gears and talk a tiny bit about Goldstone. In January 2006 Gemstone Article, Goldstone was talked about, and I said: "Many argue that Goldstone is a bonified gemstone, standing next to natural wonders like Amethyst (in the Quartz family)... but still others say, 'Man touched it ~ it's no gemstone.' Goldstone was originally a medium brown/orange color with tiny glitter, which is actually tiny copper chips imbedded in a glass stone base. Now, many times the glass stone base is NATURAL glass, such as Aventurine or Obsidian. Most of the time, however, additives are mixed in, and only remnants of the natural glass remain, becoming a man-made product more than any kind of gemstone." This is NOT a gem created in the earth, nor is it igneous.

Now to the conclusion: SUNSTONE AND GOLDSTONE ARE NOT THE SAME! Now, from the descriptions, you can understand how they are different, right? Well, vendors on the internet, including but not limited to those on sites like eBay, are selling Goldstone (glass w/ copper specks) as natural Indian Sunstone (igneous, natural rock material mined in regions such as Oregon USA and in various places of India)! This is not only an incredible disservice to the customers they are misleading (or perhaps they are uneducated themselves), but it is also a disservice to the gemstone, Sunstone!

Sunstone is an incredible gemstone, and deserves to be named and identified properly! Goldstone has its place, but is absolutely NO SUBSTITUTE for Sunstone Feldspar ~ not even close! There are, of course, several colors of Sunstone ~ but we are really discussing the deep colors of high quality Indian Sunstone in this article ~ which is most commonly mistaken with Goldstone. Oregon Sunstone Feldspar is also gorgeous, and should be an entire article of its own... someday!

Usually, description is enough in our articles, but this month ~ it just seemed like illustration would be better. So, I invite you to see for yourself ~ Goldstone is on the left, and an Indian Sunstone gem is on the right ~ see the difference? The flecks of sparkle in the stone on the left (Goldstone) appear much different than the inner shiller/shine of the natural Sunstone gem on the right.



This month we are offering a lovely variety of Natural Sunstone Feldspar in the JewelCat Designs webstore as well is the JewelCat247 eBay Store ~ so please take a look around for some super deals on the real thing! It's a super gemstone for Autumn, as it has that gorgeous warm orange, glowing color so attributed to this crisp season of change. Enjoy!

Till next time, Cheers & Thanks for reading! -JC

More fun facts for you, in case you were curious...


Birthday Flowers & Anniversaries