[Jewelry making - Article 01181] - Re: [Orchid] Andalucite? and general lab-creation question

[Refined Designs]

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>         One dealer is telling me it's really rare, was only mined for a
>     very short time, and is hard to come by.  Another dealer considers
>     it a "low-range" gemstone (whatever that means).  A third only
>     deals in lab-created andalucite. 

    Hey Karen,   I have a hunch that there may be some confusion here
    between andalucite and alexandrite...Adalucite is a relatively
    inexpensive, strongly pleochroic gem: it will display 2 colors face
    up at the same time (in many cases a brownish-green hue and a
    brownish-red hue ). Alexandrite on the other hand is a much rarer and
    very expensive stone. It also shows two colors, but under *different*
    lighting conditions, not at the same time (ideally green or greenish
    blue in fluoresenct/daylight, and red or purple in incandescent
    light, depending on location mined). And to my knowledge there is no
    lab created andalucite, but there is synthetic alexandrite. If the
    stone you like is andalucite, great. If it's alexandrite, well, I
    hope you have a line of credit! (OK, I may be exaggerating a bit, but
    not much!) 

Cindy Crounse, G.G.

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