Dioptase Mineral Specimen 39g

For beauty that asks to be handled carefully.

Dioptase is one of the most intensely saturated greens in the mineral world — closer to emerald than almost anything else that isn't emerald — but it's soft and brittle where emerald is hard, which is why it's collected and displayed rather than worn or carried. Its name comes from Greek dia and optazein, to see through, describing how its internal cleavage planes become visible when a crystal is held to the light.

It forms in small, glassy crystals in the oxidised zones of copper deposits, and historically it was sometimes mistaken for emerald by prospectors who hadn't yet learned to tell the two apart.

Dioptase is worked with for deep emotional release — an intense heart stone, used more in stillness than in motion. It sits with the heart.

Sheri chooses every piece by hand, cleanses it, and charges it before it's packed here on the Gold Coast.

Very fragile — display only, and handle as little as possible.