Mesa Verde Peridot®
Peridot has been valued for centuries and comes in various shades of green, with the most desired being the bright chartreuse to near apple greens. These intensely bright greens can be seen in our Mesa Verde® Peridot, which happens to be sourced right here in the United States.
Can you tell us a little about the source of this material?
Mesa Verde® Peridot is unearthed by Apache miners from the summit and sides of Peridot Mesa, a flat-topped basalt rock hill with steep sides in the San Carlos Reservation. The gem material is embedded in basalt flows from 10 to 100 feet thick, which is broken up with sledgehammers or dynamite to free the gems. This mine is run strictly by the Apache people and has been a major worldwide producer for decades. In fact, this source has created 75% of the world’s Peridot for many years, so you’ve likely run into this material once or twice before if you love Peridot like we do!
What kinds of sizes, shapes and cutting styles can be found?
This Peridot does not come in crystal form but is rather found in what are called ‘bombs.’ These are roundish pockets that form in the large basalt flow. These ‘bombs’, or pockets, can get larger than a softball and are completely full of peridot. The challenge is most of the Peridot inside is ‘sugary’, meaning most is like a coarse sand. Within this, you find small nodules that are large enough to cut fine gems from. We have noticed this Arizona material produces the best melee (1-3mm) sizes up to 2.5ct size stones, and a select few that are larger stones.
We offer a vast variety of cutting styles in Mesa Verde Peridot® including melee, small to medium size standard shapes such as rounds, baguettes, emerald cuts, princess cuts, cushions, and pears.
We also offer more creative styles such as beads, half-moons, hexagons, mini cabochons, carved scarab cabochons, and one of our signature cutting styles: GeoCuts™. While we do offer some free form or individual cut stones in this material, many of the styles listed are offered in calibrated sizes so you can utilize in any repeatable jewelry designs you may have.
Is this material typically enhanced in any way?
Not at all! This Peridot is not treated in any way. The color is natural and matches exactly as it is found from the earth.
Are there any unique characteristics you can share about this material?
A unique characteristic of this material is that iron is an integral part of its structure. This creates the color, which is why Peridot is found only in green, ranging from a summery light yellow-green to nearly neon rich green.
What are the gem specs of this material? How do we know if it is authentic?
The material we source at Columbia Gem House is backed with our Gem Trust guarantee. This means you know it’s an authentic gemstone and that we will share all available information with you. With Mesa Verde® Peridot, we only buy rough material that we carefully inspect and verify, then cut it in our cutting workshop directly. You can find additional gem specifications below:
How do I care for my gemstone?
Peridot is susceptible to certain acids that can dull the polish. We recommend cleaning with a mild dish soap, using a toothbrush to scrub behind the stone where dust can collect.
What can you tell us beyond the facets? I want to know more…
Peridot is the extreme gem, found in the rocks created by volcanoes and even meteors that fall to earth. A few samples of extraterrestrial Peridot have even been faceted into gems if you can believe it! Although Peridot is treasured in Hawaii as the goddess Pele's tears, almost all the Peridot sold in Hawaii today is from Arizona. Even so, Peridot is produced by Hawaii's volcanoes: the island of Oahu has beaches made out of olivine grains but are much too small to cut into gems.
