The Brain of the Gemstone World

Oh, this is cute. What gemstone do you get when you combine Kermit the Frog with a rock band? Okay, so a Kermit the Frog is green. A green rock with banding. So this has got to be malachite. All right, we're gonna open this up. Three, two, one. Bowser's, that's beautiful. Oh my gosh. It's green, it's heavy. This right here is malachite. We can see some banding right there. We are gonna talk about why malachite is so important. It is idiochromatic, which means it is self-colored. So we're gonna talk about idiochromatic versus allochromatic. Idiochromatic is when a stone is colored by something in its chemical composition. So in this case, idiochromatic malachite is colored by copper. If a gemstone is allochromatic, it is colored by something that is outside the chemical composition. So when you think of sapphire, the basic chemical composition of sapphire is aluminum and oxygen. And if you get blue sapphire, it is actually colored by titanium. So that is like an outside element that is coloring outside of the original chemical composition. The difference between idiochromatic and allochromatic is idiots only want to do something by themselves, but allochromatic is all like teamwork. So I always kind of remember it that way. The chemical composition of malachite, it is copper, carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. It is known for this bright green. It's known for its banding because you get really unique patterns. So every piece of malachite that you have is actually gonna look different because the banding is not gonna look the same. So depending on where and how you cut the stone, you could have the same piece, but two totally different stones. And that's what's so cool is it's so unique. I want you all though to do one thing right now for me. I want you to like, subscribe, and ring that bell because we've got some pretty cool stuff coming up. Should we get another box? Thank you. Three, two, one. Now this thing looks like a brain. This is, if this was any other color, this would be really gross. All right, so this piece right here, this is malachite. So something that we need to talk to or speak to is that you have this kind of weird structure. I always thought it looks like bubbles of material. This is called botryoidal. So it's this kind of like brainy, bubbly look, and it can be really gross looking, but it's also super cool because what's neat about it is that you can see this banding on the side. So you get these like really cool patterns from the kind of bubbly look. Now all malachite is not gonna look like this. You're gonna see this like pretty consistent green, you know, the bands of the green and blue. Let's see, malachite can be found in China and Russia a lot now. We have pieces found in the Congo, Arizona. Hey y'all, shameless plug. We're gonna talk a little bit about the cis gemology reference. It's called the SGR. So what's super cool about this is it's basically like the, it's like an encyclopedia of gemstones that we actually developed here at Jewelry Television. And what's super neat is that sometimes on the channel, we'll actually have specimens that are featured in the book. And hence me shameless, giving a shameless plug of the SGR. So you have this piece right here. Doesn't that kind of look familiar? And this is basically, this is all the information. If you just want a quick reference looking, looking into malachite or sapphire or diamond or whatever you want to learn about in the gem and jewelry business, we pretty much have it here in the SGR. So think about getting one of your own. I actually don't even put these books away. When I am working from home, they are on my kitchen table 24 seven. When I'm at the office, they are open on my desk 24 seven. Elizabeth and I actually kind of pass one back and forth. We use it so much. We absolutely love it. So just something for you guys to check into if you are a gem lover like myself. All right, so when we talk about gemstones, we often have different specimens and those different specimens will exhibit different features of the stone. But anyways, this piece right here, I think is super beautiful because you get that, that bright green that malachite is known for. And I think it's obvious why this was actually used in paint. I mean, who wouldn't want that bright, beautiful green? So we've got some really interesting examples of malachite. So a lot of times it's cut in cabochon, which is the flat bottom and a domed top, and that shows off the banding. Or you can see it's cut in beads, like what I have on, or kind of a flatter, you know, a more flat piece right here. Okay, so we have another box. And I think, yep, this is what I was hoping for. Okay, so this right here is a perfect example of the banding and malachite. And you can see that kind of like bubble look. That's where there would be a botryodal structure. So malachite was actually used by ancient Egyptians, Europeans, and Mayans for decorative purposes. And that could be anything from like carvings to maybe jewelry. The Mohs hardness scale, which we've talked about before, malachite is only about a three and a half to a four. So this isn't a piece that if you're buying jewelry, I would be like knocking your ring on. Another thing I want you all to take a look at, we've actually done a video about azure malachite. You can check that out. I'm gonna pop up the link on the screen. Take a look at how those blues and those greens interact and how beautiful that stone is. It's definitely something I would add to your collection no matter what. All right, so another thing to be careful about with malachite, whether you have a mineral specimen or piece of jewelry, it actually has perfect cleavage in one direction. And that basically means that if you hit it just the right way, it'll just. And that is why we are always careful with mineral specimens. That is why we don't drop boxes. That is why you just always need to treat your gemstones and jewelry and mineral specimens with the utmost care, regardless if it's a one on the Mohs scale or a 10 on the Mohs scale. And if you're interested in buying malachite jewelry, we actually do have some here at Jewelry Television. I was excited to talk about this. I've been in the business 10 years and consistently malachite is one of my favorite stones. All right, time to take a closer look. I want you all to take a closer look at that banding right there and look at the beautiful colors. I want you to look at the interesting patterns and think about how no matter where you cut the stone, each piece of jewelry or carving could look different and it's unique. Take a closer look at malachite, look at the banding, look at the colors. It's something you definitely don't want to miss out on. I feel like I just did a brain dump of science and it's always fun to share that information with you all. I hope you learned something. I hope you remember science is super cool, but it's super, super cool when you're learning with rocks and chemistry and geology, oh my. So study hard, work hard, and don't forget to like, subscribe and ring the bell and come back and see us soon. Thanks y'all. Bye.