Jewelry Birthstones Wizard
“How to Buy Birthstones Like a Pro” by padre art
Chrysoberyl Gems
by: padre art
Chrysoberyl gems can be standard gem quality material of a hardness (8.5 Moh's scale) equal to the Corundum gems Ruby and Sapphire. The typical color range is a yellow that can lean towards green or brown.
It can also exhibit chatoyance which is the interesting optical phenomena called cats eye. In the case of the form of Chrysoberyl called Alexandrite, the gems display the characteristic of dichroism.
The Alexandrite will show an almost emerald green color in sunlight but under incandescent lighting it is a vibrant red hue.
The color change can often be very dramatic and is due to trace amounts of chromic oxide, rather than crystal orientation as in most dichroic gems such as Tourmaline.
Chrysoberyl gems and many other minerals can display optical phenomena such as cats eye, stars and color changes called chatoyance, asterism and chroism. Learn more about Phenomenal Gems.
- Chrysoberyl gems
- A faceted chrysoberyl gem with out special optical properties.
- Chrysoberyl gems
- A fine chrysoberyl cabochon displaying the optical phenomena chatoyance, called cats eye
- Chrysoberyl gems
- Watch the color change of this large Alexandrite as it displays the optical phenomena called dichroism.
Chrysoberyl Gems
