If I say Zircon to you, what do you think of?
I'm guessing you would fall into one of two camps......1 ~ never heard of it......2 ~ isn't that cubic zirconia??
Zircon and Cubic Zirconia are very different. CZ is a lab created stone that is used as a diamond substitute along with Moissanite, whereas Zircon is a natural gemstone. Zircon has such similar properties to diamonds that the two were often confused.
Zircon comes in almost any colour you can think of, from white/colourless to pinks to blues to yellows to oranges to violets and everything in between! My personal favourite is Cognac Zircon, such a lovely rich colour. Green is the rarest and therefore very expensive.
An example of green Zircon can be seen in the George Pendant. This is a huge 43.79 carat natural green Zircon (virtually all Zircon is heat-treated to enhance the colour) from the Ratnapura mines in Sri Lanka, and was cut by George Cravoshay and set into this pendant by his wife, designer Paula Crevoshay. It's large size and the fact that it has not been treated makes it incredibly rare and currently sits in the Smithsonian.
