Adular stone and its properties
Adular stone has been known and popular since ancient times. Thousands of years ago, when people just started to make hiking trails through the Alps, they came across layered fragments of a translucent gleaming stone.
Many centuries passed before curious researchers asked the question: does the adularity not lose its properties of light irisation over the years? What determines the intensity of the decorative effects of the gem? How were mineral deposits formed?
Mount Adul and the Mons-Adular mountain range that sheltered its mountains have long been considered the only location for adulars. Stones of similar chemical composition, similar (it is difficult to speak of complete identity in this case) of physical structure and equivalent in aesthetic expressiveness are found on all continents of the Earth.
Mineralogists attribute adularia to feldspar. Jewellery quality Ceylon spars were once considered abundant. Good gems are being brought from India. True, the color scheme of Indian stones is not always convincing. Mountain formations of all continents to one degree or another are rich in feldspar.
However, in many cases, completely alien minerals appear under the guise of adularia. The similarity between the samples is limited by minimal external similarity. Among amateur gemmology, products from heterogeneous formations are often referred to the same - “moonstone” - although by right the name “moonstone” belongs only to adularia.
Mineral parameters
Adularia refers to the aluminosilicates of the potassium feldspar group. The accustomed names are orthoclase, moonstone. The chemical formula of the compound is K (AlSi3O8).
Deposits and varieties of adular
The most interesting specimens of adularia were found on the territory of gold ore mines in Russia. Gold nanoparticles are a natural impurity in the composition of feldspar crystals mined in the Urals and Siberia.
Chukchi gold deposits give adulard crystals intergrowths with native inclusions of noble metal. Often feldspar also contains silver.
Pribaikalskie adulars amaze with the beauty of pearl ebb. In the Irkutsk region, there are crystals of moonstone up to 20 centimetres in size! However, the jewellery quality of giants is small: the Irkutsk adulars are fractured, often contaminated with brown iron oxides, and poorly exhibit iridization.
Minerals issued as adularia
Due to the common optical properties, some minerals are visually similar to adularia. Belomorite - a close relative of adularia, also feldspar, but not orthoclase, but plagioclase - has the same pearly sheen. However, the colouring of white-white rock is more intense; blue and green tones and the colour of the sea wave are visible in it.
Rainbow labradorite is also plagioclase, and also often looks like adularia. The presence of a large number of impurities stains labradorite. Adular is more restrained, stricter, nobler than his coloured relative.
Other types of feldspar (albite, microcline) also have similarities with adularia, but in terms of jewellery quality, they do not go to any comparison with the famous gem. Some varieties of chalcedony are similar to adular colour and degree of transparency, however, this type of quartz does not show ionization.
The similarity of unsuccessful batches of synthetic spinel to adularity looks curious. Features of the artificial growth of spinel crystals led to the appearance of microbubble inclusions in it. Craftsmen from the jewellery industry immediately christened laboratory marriage a special kind of moonstone - and unsuccessfully sold out a considerable part of the stock ...
A true adularia is rare and therefore valuable. The impeccable jewellery quality of a semiprecious stone is found only in isolated cases. Therefore, one should not be surprised to see an adular priced at ten, one hundred or even five hundred dollars.
The magical properties of adularia
Do not use adularia in magic rituals. Firstly, the spiritual power of a stone is not manifested in creation and stimulation, but in dissolution and relaxation. Adular is not an assistant in achieving goals; Adularia helps to avoid, leave, smooth, level.
Secondly, the moonstone is completely subordinated to the rhythm of motion of the Earth’s natural satellite. During the full moon, the lunar (the common nickname for the stone) is most effective. Old or nascent month dramatically reduce the effectiveness of the gem. Dependence on the night luminary is not fully explored and not fully understood the magical property of adular ...
Zodiac Cancers and Pisces can count on help from adularia on any day of the year. Helps stone and Taurus. However, the rest of the signs should be careful in dealing with a flickering gem, and Leo and Sagittarius (to a lesser extent, Aries and Capricorn) should do without jewelry with adulars.