Green Aventurine
Quartz & Crystal Family
Green aventurine is a quartzite containing many tiny, aligned mineral flakes. Chrome-bearing fuchsite mica gives the usual green color and creates aventurescence, the glittering reflections seen as the stone or light moves; it is a rock, not a single quartz crystal.
Identity
- Material or variety
- Quartz
- Scientific or material identity
- Quartz
- Classification
- Natural mineral or mineral variety
- Aliases or trade names
- Aventurine quartz · Indian jade
- 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 · Russia
Appearance & optical properties
soft green quartzite with fine sparkling mica flecks.
History & discovery
Its name comes from Italian a ventura, “by chance.” The term first referred to sparkling aventurine glass associated with an accidental discovery in early eighteenth-century Italy, then passed to natural stones with a similar glittering appearance.
Uses & care
- Common uses
- Green aventurine is fashioned into beads, cabochons, pendants, figurines, bowls, spheres, and other polished ornaments, with cutters orienting surfaces to show the sparkling inclusions.
- Handling and cleaning
- Clean it with mild soapy water and a soft cloth or brush. Protect polished surfaces from hard knocks and keep them apart from harder gems that can scratch them during storage.
Jewellery
5 pieces of Green Aventurine jewellery. Learners earn each one in DigMyGem by learning words; until then it shows as a silhouette.
Fortune's Leaf Pendant
Pendant
An imagined pendant backed by a single engraved leaf. Green aventurine has long been kept as a stone of luck and opportunity.
Meadow Spark Brooch
Brooch
An imagined brooch of small leaves around one bright stone. The glitter inside the green looks like dew on grass.
Lucky Clover Ring
Ring
An imagined ring with a four-leaf-clover head. It nods to the old belief that green aventurine brings good fortune.
Meadow Spark Bangle
Bracelet
An imagined bangle carved from one piece of green aventurine, the glittering stone often sold as Indian jade.
Ural Garden Vase
Jewel
An imagined Russian palace vase turned from green aventurine and mounted in gilt bronze, made to stand in a summer hall.