Kunzite - The Different Colors, Shapes and Sizes

Kunzite is one of the newer gems to be found. In fact, it just a little over one hundreds years old. Kunzite, while new to man is intensely beautiful, feminine and great for making ornamental jewelry. Kunzite comes in many colors, some of them more popular than others. For instance, Kunzite can come in a beautiful and intense pink or violet. It also comes frequently as colorless. Kunzite can be found with other mineral inclusions such as Hiddenite which makes the Kunzite look green or yellow. Other colors include gray and in some rare cases blue.

Kunzite is one of the few minerals to have the attribute of pleochroism. Pleochroism means that the mineral can two or more colors present, usually depending on how you look at the gemstone. For instance, Kunzite in many cases can be found being pink, violet and colorless. In other cases, it can be yellow, green and colorless.

Kunzite is found in usually large masses, sometimes weighing a few kilograms. These masses make it easy to create larger ornamental jewelry pieces out of Kunzite. Kunzite is relatively affordable, even at larger sizes. When shopping for Kunzite, make sure you base the value of the stone on its color intensity and its transparency. The more of these qualities, usually the better. Kunzite can be difficult to cut, because the intensity of the color can be lost if cut wrong. It is difficult to cut because of its near perfect cleavage. However, most professional cutters have mastered the art of cutting Kunzite.

How and Where is Kunzite Formed and Found?

Kunzite is considered a Spodumene, it is made from lithium, aluminum and silicate. Kunzite is usually found in pegmatite’s that are rich with lithium. Usually these gemstones are found in large masses weighing several kilograms and can be even larger. For instance the largest Spodumene ever found was over 47 feet long and weighed over 90 tons.

While Kunzite isn’t found in such huge masses it is found in large deposits that can yield rather larger gemstones. Kunzite is not only popular for its wonderful colors, but also the fact that it very affordable in larger sizes.

Kunzite comes in a few colors, most notably an intense pink, violet or clear. Other colors can occur usually with the help of other minerals such as Hiddenite. For instance, Kunzite can be found in green, gray, yellow and a very rare blue.

Kunzite forms prismatic crystals that have the attribute of pleochroism, meaning that they are able to have two or more different colors; usually the three colors that are present are violet, pink and clear or green yellow and clear. Kunzite is a hard gemstone and perfect for ornamental jewelry. It is regarded as translucent and its value is usually based on the intensity of its colors and the translucent quality.

Kunzite was first discovered in San Diego, California in 1902. So it is an extremely young stone, but has become very popular in recent years as consumers opt for very feminine looking stones. Kunzite is not common, but found in many regions of the world. It has been found and mined in Pakistan, Afghanistan Brazil, United States, Canada, Mexico and Sweden.