Moonstone: Sri Lankan Pink
Sri Lankan Pink Moonstone is a luminous delight with an enigmatic sheen that shifts and shimmers across the stone's surface. Treasured for centuries, few gemstones match the romance and mystique of moonstone.
Moonstone is the most famous member of the orthoclase branch of the feldspar family. A dazzling, blue-white light glides over the surface when the stone is cut en cabochon with a phenomenon that gemologists call adularescence. Light rays are diffracted and dispersed by a natural layering of feldspar within the stone, creating an exceptional play of light and a pearly or opalescent luster. Moonstone is typically colorless with a white to blue-white sheen, but it can also occur in varieties of gray, tan, yellow, orange, green, pink, or blue. This ravishing pink moonstone is a variety found only in Sri Lanka and makes up less than two percent of all Sri Lankan moonstones. Sri Lankan pink moonstone is available in very limited quantities or one-of-a-kind pieces.
- In Arabic countries, women sew moonstone into their garments because it's considered a symbol of fertility. In fact, crystal healers have been known to use this stone to treat fertility problems.
- Hindu legend says that moonbeams formed this gem. It was thought that you could see your future if you held a moonstone in your mouth during a full moon.
- The ancient Romans also believed that the moon created this gem. It was associated with Luna, the goddess of the moon, who endowed it with the ability to enhance romance, intuition, dreams and emotions.
- The ancient Greeks associated moonstone with Hecate, the goddess of the moon and magic. An alternative name for moonstone is hecatolite.
- The moonstone is a coveted gift among lovers. Legend says that when two people both wear moonstone, they will fall ardently in love when the moon reaches its peak. Also lovers who possessed the stone had insight into their future lives together.
- Great designers of the Art Nouveau era, like Louis Comfort Tiffany and Rene Lalique, embraced the moonstone's lunar sheen and featured it in many of their romantic designs. Today these masterpieces are found in museums and in highly-guarded private collections.
- In 1970, the year after American astronauts took off from Florida and landed on the moon, the Florida state legislature adopted the moonstone as its official state gemstone.
LOCATION: Sri Lanka
Moonstone has been found in Brazil, Burma, Madagascar and Tanzania. However, premium moonstone is sourced from Sri Lanka. And Sri Lanka is the only source for pink moonstone. Our selection of pink moonstone comes from the Sri Lankan city of Meetiyagoda. Villagers believe that the acre of land where moonstone is mined is blessed by the moon.
- Ranks 6 to 6.5 on the Mohs hardness scale.
- Color is a pale pink.
- Sourced from Sri Lanka.
- Member of the orthoclase branch of the feldspar family.
- Also known as hecatolite, feldspath nacre and chandrakanta.
- Birthstone for June.
- Traditional gift for 13th anniversary.
- State gem of Florida.
- 100 percent natural stone; no additional treatments.
