Earth is filled with countless wonders and miracles of nature. We simply tend to admire some beauties while ignoring others. We have seen the lush green lands, rainbows and sunsets. Nature has always been praised and appreciated by mankind but still there are some hidden treasures which will usually be ignored. One such treasure is alexandrite. It is not as common as other gemstones like zircon, diamond or amber but it has its own sparkle and brilliance.
Alexandrite stone is mostly found in Russia, US, Brazil and Zimbabwe. It is not found in abundance anywhere. This stone is rarely found in the earth mines. Its scarcity is one of the factors which contribute towards its attraction and high price.
Many people tend to prefer Alexandrite over other, more conventional forms of jewelry such as diamond, ruby, emerald etc. Mostly, women are fond of the jewelry that matches the color of their apparels but the most distinguishing feature of alexandrite is that it changes its colors under different conditions as it has no specific color to speak of. It changes its color from red to blue and green. The different shades and tones are present according to different time of the day and the intensity of light falling on it. For example, you can see alexandrite being green or blue in sunlight but it can be red or purple if seen under an artificial source of light. This color changing property is not found easily in any other stones; the only other multicolor stone being Opal. Most precious and semi-precious stones (rubies, emerald, diamonds) reflect the same color in any light.
Because it shows a variety of vibrant colors, alexandrite is extremely sought after and is also quite expensive and is always sold in markets at relatively high rates. Although it is not easily available, and if found its cost is always very high, it still has found a solid following or jewelry lovers who buy alexandrite. This property of showing different colors is also the technique to detect its originality. If you are buying the alexandrite jewelry then make sure it is changing colors under different light conditions.
Synthetic Alexandrites are also available. Alexandrites are made via a process known as the floating zone method whereby crystals of Alexandrite can simply be “grown” inside a lab. Such a process allows for cheaper manufacturing of Alexandrites which further reduces the price of the Alexandrite jewelry in the market.