Blue Aventurine
Quartz & Crystal Family
Blue aventurine is a blue form of aventurine, a quartz-rich rock rather than a separate mineral species. Small aligned plates of mica can give the stone its silvery or blue glitter, an optical effect called aventurescence.
Identity
- Material or variety
- Quartz
- Scientific or material identity
- Quartz
- Classification
- Natural mineral or mineral variety
- Aliases or trade names
- Aventurine quartz
- Composition or formula
- SiO₂
- Crystal system or structure
- Trigonal
- Geological or manufacturing origin
- Can form in more than one geological environment, or combines several materials.
- Mohs hardness
- 7
- Specific gravity
- 2.65
Origins
Brazil · India
Appearance & optical properties
deep blue quartzite with subtle silver-blue sparkling inclusions.
History & discovery
The name aventurine comes from Italian a ventura, “by chance.” It first referred to glittering glass reportedly made by accident in eighteenth-century Italy, and was later applied to natural stones with a similar sparkle.
Uses & care
- Common uses
- Aventurine is cut and polished for beads, cabochons, small carvings and decorative objects.
- Handling and cleaning
- Wash gently with warm soapy water and a soft brush. Avoid hard knocks, abrasive cleaners, steam and ultrasonic cleaning, especially where the rock contains fractures.
Jewellery
5 pieces of Blue Aventurine jewellery. Learners earn each one in DigMyGem by learning words; until then it shows as a silhouette.
Tidespark Pendant
Pendant
An imagined pendant cast like a curling wave around a glittering blue stone. The sparkle inside suggests sunlight on water.
Blue Comet Brooch
Brooch
An imagined brooch shaped as a comet, its tail a line of small stones. The round blue body glitters at the head.
Starfield Ring
Ring
An imagined ring whose stone looks like a night sky. The flecks inside blue aventurine read as distant stars.
Night Sky Locket
Pendant
An imagined locket whose lid is a disc of blue aventurine, a dark blue quartz scattered with glittering flecks like stars.
Starry Night Tiara
Tiara
An imagined platinum tiara of a crescent moon and stars cut from blue aventurine, a dark blue stone full of glints like a night sky.