Chrysoprase Beads
Chrysoprase beads are apple green chalcedony, a fine-grained quartz whose color comes from traces of nickel, and it is the most valued of the chalcedonies. Australia produces the finest material, and the lemon variety sold alongside it is a related nickel mineral rather than quartz. This collection holds natural Australian, Chinese and lemon chrysoprase in a range of finishes and shapes for bracelets, necklaces and earrings.
Appearance
Australian chrysoprase is a clear, even apple green to minty green, translucent at the edges, with few inclusions. Chinese chrysoprase is generally lighter and paler, sometimes with a yellowish cast and more cloudiness. Lemon chrysoprase is opaque yellow-green to lime, often veined with brown or black matrix, and it looks closer to a jasper than to a translucent stone. Beads vary within a strand in depth of green and in how much matrix they carry.
A polished finish shows the translucency best; microfaceting adds glitter to the surface, and a matte finish turns the green chalky and soft. True chrysoprase is 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs scale and wears well, but lemon chrysoprase is a magnesite, about 4 on the scale, and scratches far more easily. All chrysoprase can pale with long exposure to strong sunlight or heat, so store it out of direct sun.
Formation and origin
Chrysoprase forms where nickel-bearing rocks such as serpentinite weather near the surface and silica-rich water deposits chalcedony in veins and nodules. The nickel, held in tiny clay-like particles within the quartz, gives the green. The main source is the Marlborough district of Queensland, Australia, with further deposits in Western Australia, Tanzania, Brazil, Indonesia and Kazakhstan; Poland supplied it to medieval Europe. Lemon chrysoprase, also called citron chrysoprase, is nickel-bearing magnesite found with chrysoprase at Marshall Pool in Western Australia.
Pairings
Green apatite beads: a brighter, more transparent green that sits one step away from chrysoprase on a strand.
Phosphosiderite beads: orchid purple and apple green make a soft contrast, and both are gentle, low-glare colors.
Tanzanite beads: violet blue against apple green, a pairing of two translucent stones with a similar glow.
Meaning and Metaphysical Beliefs
Chrysoprase has long been a stone of the European courts; Frederick the Great of Prussia had it set into his palace at Sanssouci, and medieval craftsmen used Polish chrysoprase in cathedrals and chapels. In crystal traditions it is associated with hope, joy and new beginnings, and it is one of the stones most often placed with the heart chakra. These are traditional beliefs, not claims of physical effect.
