The effect is caused mainly by copper included in the stone. The best are faceted and used in fine jewelry, where they command a high price, but many end up as cabochons to better display the optical effect. This glittering mineral can be worth quite a bit when the right pieces are found.
Sunstone’s glitter and orange color make it unique in the world of stones, and the best-quality examples are quite stunning. The stone itself is highly prized, with a large portion coming out of mines in Oregon. Sunstone is an orange plagioclase feldspar mineral with a unique glittering effect when cut and polished. Oregon Sunstones (credit: BLM Oregon & Washington) That said, it’s easy to see why amber deserves a place on our list. Not all amber is orange either, there are also stunning blue specimens out there that are less well-known. Whether it’s scientific specimens or just a pair of earrings, the warm internal glow of amber is always well-received. The light weight and strange surface feel would have been truly unique in ancient times, there are few hard, natural polymers that occur in nature.Īmber’s fame is well-deserved.
Indeed, the best description of amber’s feel is that it feels like plastic. Oddly, it doesn’t feel like any other stone in hand. Whether you know it from the machinations of John Hammond in Jurassic Park or just from the amazing color it displays. Amber is the result of tree resin becoming fossilized over time and is distinct from copal which is only a few thousand years old in most cases.Īmber is famous. Some of the best examples contain complete specimens of ancient creatures caught inside. This amber is deep, glowing orange in color, and is often included with bits of insects or plants. CrocoiteĪmber is one of the classic gemstones, with Baltic Amber being the best known. Native copper was one of early man’s sources of metals, making it an important part of our species’ history in addition to being a beautiful specimen. These specimens are interlocked masses of native copper and native silver. Some of the most fascinating specimens are the “half-breeds” from the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan. Native copper is usually fairly pure, although impurities do occur. Some commercial specimens are prepared, you can easily discern them by their shiny surface and bright color. Native copper is often mottled with a blue color when pulled from the ground, but it’s only a thin layer of oxidation on the surface. The metal is often formed into strange shapes, seen best when the rest of the host material is removed. It’s simply raw copper surrounded by host rock, and when cleaned the specimens are obviously metal. Native copper is a form of copper that’s found in nature. Native CopperĬopper’s color is a bit hard to define, but most people would agree it falls under orange. That makes these garnets a source of cheap orange faceted stones for jewelry, and also a prized specimen for many mineral collectors. The best examples have a bright orange hue that’s simply radiant, but most fall a bit more on the side of brown-orange instead. Spessartine garnet is a great example of an “unnatural” orange in nature.
They’re found all over the world, like most varieties of garnets, with particularly stunning specimens coming out of Madagascar and Bulgaria.
Not all are in the orange part of the spectrum, some locales boast a variety that’s a reddish-purple color similar to rhodolite garnet. Spessartine garnets are often found in pegmatites. They’re more often found as mineral samples than cut stones, mainly owing to their habit of forming as tight bunches of small crystals on the host mineral. One of these varieties, spessartine garnet, comes in with a great shade of orange. Garnets come in a wide range of shades, much wider than the normal deep red that most people associate with the stone.
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