Sunstone: A beautiful Sparkling gem

The colors of Oregon Sunstone tend to be pastel in nature and range from clear or light yellow champagne, pink, orange, reddish-orange, orangey-red, raspberry, red, green, bicolor red green, copper colored.

The least valuable of these gems is the pale yellow to colorless non-phenomenal type. These can be purchased for just a few dollars a carat.

Gems in greens, strong pinks and reds as well as the bicolor and tricolor stones with and without shimmer can be purchased in the $50 - $300/ct range.

Large red gems weighing 3 carats or more are the most valuable and can cost a whopping $1700 a carat!


Oregon Sunstones

This sparkly glow is caused by reflective inclusions of red, orange or green crystals.

Sunstone is an ancient gem. It has been found in Viking burial grounds. It is thought that Sunstone may have aided in navigation much like Iolite gems did.

Sunstone is a member of the feldspar group of minerals and is closely related to Moonstones.

Sunstone produce two types of material, one that is cut into cabochon or made into beads like opal or jade and the other is Gems quality and can be faceted like a diamond or sapphire.

The cabochon and bead material exhibits a unique visual phenomenon known as "schiller".
This is caused by millions of microscopic copper platelets that reflect light with varying intensities depending on their concentrations. The "schiller" phenomenon makes the stone appear to glow even when viewed from a distance. As seen in the pictures above.

Although Sunstone have been known for centuries it was not until 1990 when high grade Sunstone was found in Oregon that Sunstone became popular.

Sunstone has since become the State stone of Oregon.

Due to the refractive inclusions clear Sunstone sparkle like diamonds.

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