Amazonite, Russian, Faceted, Natural, Drop, One Pendant, 36x20mm

Amazonite, Russian, Faceted, Natural, Drop,

One Pendant with Metal Alloy Bail, 36x20mm 

Amazonite is a green to blue green mineral, a variety of the potassium feldspar. Its name is taken from that of the Amazon River, from which green stones were formerly obtained, though it is unknown whether those stones were Amazonite. Found in China, Libya, Magnolia, South Africa, and the United States in Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Russian amazonite is a beautiful darker green-blue member of the feldspar family. Found in the Southern Urals in western Russia.

Mixed or Rainbow Amazonite beads offer a wider color range, displaying not just shades of pale sea-mist blue green, but also gray, brown, yellow, and rust. Sometimes the stones contain visible bits of sparkly pyrite, providing even more visual interest.

USA Amazonite stone is also referred to as "Colorado jade" or "Pikes Peak jade" because of its resemblance to jade. It is usually pale green, but can sometimes be blue-green, turquoise, or yellow-green and can also have white streaks.

Hardness 6-6.5

This is a natural stone with no treatment other than cutting, drilling, and polishing in China. 

Metal Alloy is a metal made by combining two or more metallic elements, base metals, to give greater strength or resistance to corrosion. In mining and economics, base metals refer to industrial non-ferrous metals excluding precious metals, like silver, gold, and platinum. Base Metals include copper, aluminum, nickel, tin, zinc antimony, bismuth, lead and many more. Metal Alloy, also known as Pewter and is usually a tin based alloy 85-95% of the time but could also be zinc based.

In December of 1994, The US Safe Drinking Water Act defined Lead-free as having less than 0.25% lead content. Most newly made solid pewter on the market today is considered lead free by these standards. But it is still recommended to not give children Metal Alloy jewelry if there is any chance, they will put it in their mouths!