What Color Is Iolite Stone

The color of this gorgeous gem is mostly blue and violet it appears in other colors also like yellow grey blue and brown as this precious stone has the capability to project three different colors in different angles it is called trichoric.

What color is iolite stone.

Iolite can be light to deep blue and usually has a purplish tinge to it. It is also referred to as water sapphire or dichroite. However there are some iolite stones that are lavender clear blue or deep blue in color. It can show as three different colour shades in the same stone.

Iolite is a silicate of magnesium and aluminum. The color of iolite is considered to be quite soft compared to other blue gemstones such as sapphires. Iolite gemstone is the gem quality variety of the mineral cordierite. Iolite exhibits dichroism an ability to change colour when viewed from different angles.

It describes the transparent to translucent form of cordierite and it has recently become a popular gemstone. Iolite is frequently step cut to enhance color and often windowed and or shallow cut to lighten tone. Overall iolite appears as violet blue or indigo but in different positions may shift to a yellow gray or honey color and even to a clear light blue. Iolite is typically light to dark blue and violet although it can also occur in various shades of yellow gray green or brown.

A valuable piece of iolite will have a soft saturated violet blue color. What color is iolite gemstone. This gem stone is mainly found in many parts of the world major sources come from india. A property called pleochroism is very pronounced in iolite producing different colors when the stone is seen through different positions.

Iolite is renowned for its pleochrism appearing intense blue in one direction yellowish grey or blue in another and becoming almost colorless as the stone is turned to the third direction. Its name is derived from the greek word ios which means violet and pertains to the gemstone s violet color. Iolite is trichroic which means that three different colors can be seen in the same stone depending on the viewing angle. Less valuable gems have a faded purple color and at the lowest end of the scale iolite can be nearly white or transparent.

Run of the mill stones often have a steely inky or washed out blue color but the best specimens can rival aaa tanzanite in the saturation of their blue violet hue. Iolite is a magnesium aluminium silicate and appears as grey pale to dark blue violet and colourless crystals. The most desirable color is an intense violet blue that can rival that of tanzanite.