Did you know that Zircon is actually a Natural Gemstone? Most people still think of it as a popular Diamond imitation called “Cubic Zirconia”. “Cubic” (as it’s known) is a man made ‘re-creation’ of natural Zircon. What you may not know, is that Natural Zircon comes in a number of vibrant and intense colours. From Raspberry red, through grass green, banana yellow and in particular 0cean Blue.
It’s this crazy intense Blue that we’re interested in today. Blue Zircon is a traditional stone for the month of December. Somewhere between the deep bright blue of a fine Ceylon Sapphire and the soft Blue of a Fine Aquamarine, Zircon’s colour is unique. It’s intense Blue has just a slight hint of green, and a warm fuzziness to the light that comes out of the stone.
This ‘fuzziness’ is a result of something else that is a bit unique to Zircon. It is strongly doubly refractive. (remember that.. there’ll be a test) (or not!). What this means, is that every ray of light that enters a Zircon gets split into two. As they travel through the stone, the rays get farther and farther apart. The effect means that if you were to have a Zircon looking glass, it would be like looking through a 3D lense. Everything would be doubled.
The best stones come from Cambodia, and they are typically found in sizes up to about 5 carats.. Beyond that they get a bit rarer, and over 10 carats, they can get very expensive.
The majority of Blue Zircons you will see will have been heat treated to improve the colour. Relatively hard, they can be a bit brittle and will often get very small abrasions or chips along the facet junctions (the edges where facet planes meet) with prolonged wear.
There really aren’t any gems that can match the colour of a Blue Zircon. Beautiful and affordable, drop by and see one. You’ll be amazed..
