1. The basic characteristics of moonstone and sunstone
Moonstone is usually colorless and white, but it can also be pink, orange, 黄色, 緑, brown, and gray. The relative density is 2.58, the hardness is 6-7, usually no pleochroism, the refractive index is 1.518-1.526, it can have cat’s eye and moonlight effect. The moonlight effect is caused by light interference difference or diffraction (the refractive index of albite and orthoclase are different) hazy blue, milky white halo.
Sunstone is yellow, orange to brown. The relative density is 2.65, the hardness is 6-7, usually no pleochroism, the refractive index is 1.537-1.547, and red or golden placer gold effect can be seen. Sunstone contains feldspar with hematite or goethite inclusions. These inclusions reflect light parallel to each other and show a golden-yellow to red-colored sparkle, often called “aventurine” flash effect.
2. Evaluation of Moonstone and Sunstone
Moonstone is colorless and transparent to translucent. It has the best floating blue moonlight, but the value of white is much worse. The cut directly affects the moonlight effect, and high-quality cutting should make the moonlight float in the middle of the moonstone arc.
The high-quality sunstone has a strong placer gold effect, and the dark or light will affect the price. Although internal inclusions have a much smaller impact on them than other gemstones, obvious flaws can still affect the value of the gemstone.
3. Identification of Moonstone and Sunstone
The gemstone similar to moonstone is white agate, and the gemstone similar to sunstone is aventurine. It can be distinguished from similar gemstones by refractive index, light characteristics, and internal characteristics. Agate has no extinction position under the orthogonal polarizer, and the moonstone has four bright and four dark changes; the agate may have agate patterns, and the moonstone may have “centipede-like” インクルージョン. Aventurine has green flake flashes, and sunstone has golden and orange flashes.
4. Origin of Moonstone and Sunstone
The most famous origin of moonstone is Sri Lanka. 白, reddish brown and green moonstones are produced in Myanmar, India, Madagascar and Tanzania. Hebei also has output, but the quality is not good.
The most famous source of sunstone is Norway. 他の出身地にはロシアが含まれます, Canada, India, Mexico, 等.