A very attractive ring, made of 925 Sterling Silver features 9.19cts of bright and beautiful Fern Green Quartz and 0.86cts of glistening White Topaz.
Precious metal: 925 Sterling Silver
Average Weight: 5.63g
Number of Gemstones: 23
Shape: Round
Total Carat Weight: 10.05cts
Birthstone Month:
Regarding
birthstone months for quartz, please refer to the specific variety of quartz.
History & Lore:
Quartz
is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth's
continental crust, after feldspar.
There are many different varieties of quartz, several of which are semi-precious gemstones. Especially in Europe and the Middle East, varieties of quartz have been used, since antiquity. It is one of the most commonly used minerals in the making of jewelry and hardstone carvings.
Pure quartz, traditionally called rock crystal (sometimes called clear
quartz), is colorless and transparent (clear) or translucent, and has often
been used for hardstone carvings, such as the Lothair Crystal. Common colored
varieties include citrine, rose quartz, amethyst, smoky quartz, milky quartz,
mint quartz and others.
The word
"quartz" comes from the German Quarz in which is of Slavic origin (Czech
miners called it křemen). Other sources attribute the word's origin to
the Saxon word Querkluftertz, meaning cross-vein ore.
Quartz is the most
common material identified as the mystical substance maban in Australian
Aboriginal mythology. It is found regularly in passage tomb cemeteries in
Europe in a burial context, such as Newgrange or Carrowmore in Ireland. The
Irish word for quartz is grian cloch, which means 'stone of the sun'.
Quartz was also used in Prehistoric Ireland, as well as many other countries,
for stone tools; both vein quartz and rock crystal were knapped as part of the
lithic technology of the prehistoric peoples.
In the 17th century,
Nicolas Steno discovered that regardless of a quartz crystal's size or shape,
its long prism faces always joined at a perfect 60° angle.