Zircon

Item Description

Zircons — like this bright, eye clean, and calibrated round brilliant example — have always been popular gems. Their brilliance and flashes of multicolored light (or “fire”) have caused centuries of confusion with diamonds. This is a bright, sparkling, round zircon, at 1.72 carats. The mineral naturally occurs in different colors caused by impurities, but blue zircons are produced almost exclusively through standard heat treatment - although they require clean and high quality stones to start with. This color is stable and will not change during jewelry wear conditions. Not all zircons take on the blue color, as stones from different areas respond differently to treatment. Gemologist George Kunz, Tiffany’s famed gem buyer, was a notable zircon advocate. He once proposed the name “starlite” to promote the gem’s fiery nature. The name never caught on, but zircons remain a December birthstone (along with turquoise and tanzanite). Note - natural zircons often get confused by new collectors with cubic zirconia, due to the similarities in names, but zircon is a completely natural stone, while cubic zirconia is a lab-created product. (H)