Amazonite Crystal Bracelet Grade 5A

Amazonite is the blue-green variety of microcline, a potassium feldspar. KAlSi₃O₈. Triclinic. Mohs 6–6.5 - softer than quartz, with two good cleavage directions. The blue-green colour comes from traces of lead held in the feldspar structure. The fine white grid common in the stone is albite intergrown through the microcline.

It forms in granitic pegmatites - the slow-cooling, mineral-rich final fraction of a granite magma. The large, well-formed crystals of the classic Russian and Colorado deposits grew in these volatile-rich pockets over geological time.

Honest naming: amazonite is a feldspar, not a quartz. And despite the name, it has never been found in the Amazon - see Worth knowing.

Asked often

Is the colour natural?
Yes - the blue-green comes from traces of lead within the feldspar, and the white grid is the stone's own structure. Not dyed.

Is amazonite a quartz?
No - it is a feldspar, softer than quartz at Mohs 6–6.5. Worth knowing for care: guard the beads against hard knocks.

Does it come from the Amazon?
No. Despite the name, amazonite has never been found in the Amazon - the eighteenth-century name attached to a different green stone and was never corrected.

How should I care for it?
Wipe with a soft cloth, keep dry, and keep it clear of hard impacts. Remove before swimming, bathing, or applying scent.

Amazonite has been worked as an ornamental stone since antiquity. In Ancient Egypt, green stones like amazonite stood for new growth and renewal - the colour of returning vegetation - and the stone was cut into beads, amulets, and small objects; beads are recorded among those recovered from the tomb of Tutankhamun. It was worked, too, in Mesopotamia and across pre-Columbian South America.

The name misleads. It dates only to the eighteenth century and comes from the Amazon River, after a green stone reported from that region - yet no amazonite has ever been found in the basin. The name attached to the wrong stone and was never corrected. What the green meant to the peoples who carried it is theirs, and now yours.

1. Worn on either wrist, over the hand, on a durable elastic cord.
2. Wipe with a soft, slightly damp cloth and dry.
3. As a feldspar, amazonite is softer than the quartzes and parts along cleavage planes, so guard the beads against hard knocks against stone, metal, or tile.

Many traditions rinse or air their stones from time to time; that is a matter of preference, and the rest is yours. The care that matters here is mechanical: a softer stone, kept from sharp impact.

The elastic cord lasts longest kept dry - remove before swimming, bathing, or applying scent. Do not soak.

• Stone: Amazonite · blue-green microcline feldspar
• Composition: KAlSi₃O₈ · potassium feldspar
• Crystal system: Triclinic
• Hardness: Mohs 6–6.5
• Colour: Pale aqua to deep teal · often white-gridded
• Band: Durable elastic cord
• Origin: Brazil
• Care: Wipe with a soft cloth · keep dry · guard against hard knocks