Alexandrite
Tsarstone collectors guide
"Look, here it is, the prophetic Russian stone! O crafty Siberian. It was always green as hope and only toward evening was it suffused with blood. It was that way from the beginning of the world, but it concealed itself for a long time, lay hidden in the earth, and permitted itself to be found only on the day when Tsar Alexander was declared of age, when a great sorcerer had come to Siberia to find the stone, a magician." Leskov Nikolai Semyonovich. Alexandrite.1884
The goal of the Alexandrite Guide project is to establish a comprehensive resource, dedicated to alexandrite gemstone and to create an open community where the free exchange of information is encouraged and where all content is freely accessible on the web.
The Alexandrite Guide is intended for anyone who is interested in the history, sources, valuation and collection of alexandrite gemstones. Topics also include chemical and physical properties, mythology, and color change phenomena as well as alexandrite synthetics and imitations.
Answers to the most common questions regarding alexandrite and its identification are addressed in detail and the site is an invaluable aid to anyone wishing to buy an alexandrite for the first time.
Natural alexandrites are available in a complete range of colors from brownish to bluish green in daylight to pink, purple, red or brownish red under incandescent light. Compared to natural gemstones, most synthetic alexandrites are somewhat more blue under fluorescent light and strongly red under incandescent light. Large clean and inexpensive stones offered as natural alexandrites are most probably synthetic or not alexandrite at all.
Gemologists study the inclusions to distinguish between natural and synthetic alexandrite. Synthetic stones may also have a lower refractive index and show more fluorescence than natural stones. Natural alexandrites should be purchased from reputable dealers and expensive stones should also be tested and certified by a well established gem lab.
Although the color change is not strong, the clarity and tranparencey are quite good and the dark minty green color is especially attractive in daylight.
