Zircon

Zircon is a naturally occurring crystal called zirconium orthosilicate. As a commodity, zircon’s sold as zirconium although other elements can be found inside the crystal in small amounts. Its colors are clear, yellow, grey, reddish-brown, green, brown, and black. The zircon crystal has been given many names since antiquity, one including chrysolithos by Pliny; moreover, the current name for zircon was derived from Arabic “zar” (gold) plus English “gun” in 1783 by Alexander Gottlieb Werner. Zircon has a high refraction index and, in geology, can be used for radioactive dating.

The free-trade name for a colorless zircon is Matura Diamond, while the blue zircon has the free-trade name Starlite. It is rarely found naturally, while the heat-treatment of zircon is ubiquitous. Any color of the rainbow can be produced that way from the brown zircon variety. “Electric blue” are highly prized, however mixed hue are considerably less valuable.