Axinite-(Mg) / Magnesio Axinite
Rough and Cut Set
D-Block Mine
Merelani Hills, Tanzania
I hate using the term rare, but this rough and cut set is just that.
It is hard enough to find crystals from this 2010 discovery,
but to pair them with like coloring cut stones, well just try to find others!
Here is an amazing set of rough and cut Magnesio Axinite.
This pair contains A single bi-color crystal, that is 9.27 carats.
The crystal has orange and pale purple coloring and internal rainbow iridescence in the crystal.
The tip of the crystal on one side is covered in graphite.
The purple in the crystal is easier to see with the eye, than the camera lens.
The faceted gem of the same coloring, is 1.67 carats. It has beautiful coloring that is deeper than the crystal, and also bi-color.
Although it shows some visible inclusions, it is very bright and shows all the attributes of the crystal.
Magnesio-Axinite, a rare magnesium-dominant member of the axinite group of minerals.
Axinite has a general formula of H(CaFe2+MnMg)3(Al2BSi4O16).
Gem-quality magnesio-axinite—also known as axinite-(Mg)—is transparent to translucent,
with pale blue to pale violet, light brown to light pink, or yellow to golden yellow or orange color.
More intensely colored bluish violet to purple magnesio-axinite tends to have a higher refractive index (1.659–1.681) than lighter-colored pink, purple, or yellow material (1.652–1.668).
Magnesio-axinite has a birefringence of 0.010–0.016, strong dispersion, and a Mohs hardness of 6.5 to 7.0.
Stones with a blue color component display pale blue to pale violet and pale gray pleochroic colors.
Fluorescence is one of the material’s most striking properties.
The gem shows a dull red under short-wave ultraviolet light,
and a vibrant red to very bright flaming orange color under differing wavelength of long-wave UV, as seen in the photos and video.
