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Jamming Gems Spinel Information
Spinel
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General Information:
Spinel has a history of deception. For years, people thought of red spinel as
ruby, you can find it in many royal crowns and famous royal jewelry pieces, all
which was at one time thought to be rubies, not red spinel. Now recognized
correctly as spinel, it has become a favorite among gem collectors due to its
hardness, and spectacular range of colors. Other than red, spinel is found in
pastel pinks and purple, greenm black, also hot pink-orange, and rarely blue.
Spinel is allochromatic, which means that when the mineral is pure it is
colorless. Spinel (MgAl2O4) gets it variety of colors from traces of different
trace elements or impurities. The most common of these found in spinel are,
chromium, iron, and cobalt. With most gems, the colorless form is the most
abundant and less costly form of the mineral. That is not the case with spinel,
it is very rare to find a natural pure colorless spinel. Spinel is often found
with corundum (sapphire and ruby), it is very rare to find large pieces of this
gem. |
Origin:
Spinel is found in the following locations; Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka,
Thailand, Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Madagascar, Nepal, Nigeria,
Tadzhikistan, Tanzania and the United States. |
Common Treatments and Lab Created
Forms:
There are no treatments for spinel. There is lab created spinel, which has the
same composition of natural spinel and is available in several colors. Lab
spinel is sometimes used for simulants of other gems such as aquamarine,
sapphire, and tourmaline. |
Physical Properties:
Moh's Scale Hardness: 8
Specific Gravity: 3.54 - 3.63
Refractive Index: 1.712 - 1.762
Crystal system: (Cubic) octahedron, twins, rhombic dodecahedron
Colors: Red, orange, yellow, brown, blue violet, purple, green, black
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