ZIRCON – MORE BRILLIANT THAN DIAMOND

Because of it high reflective index and strong dispersion, Zircon has great brilliance and intensive fire, like  a diamond. The lustre is vitreous to a brilliant sheen. Because of this it has been used intentionally or mistakenly as diamond. However, it may be distinguished from diamond by its double refraction and by the wear and tear on its facet edges since though dense and hard, it is also brittle.  Sometimes it mistakenly also thought of as cubic zirconia (CZ), a recent synthetic stone imitating diamond, though zircon is a natural stone known since antiquity. Named from the Arabic "zargun" which derives from the Persian for "gold colour", it was believed to provide the wearer with wisdom, honour and riches, and loss of lustre was said to warn of danger. It is the birthstone for december together with turquoise.

Zircon, is famous for its colourless stones called Jargon because it closely resembles diamond, but today blue  is the commonly associated colour for zircon. Although colourless when pure, impurities will produce a range of colours – Hyacinth for red, orange, yellow and brown; Starlight for the much loved blue; and the rare highly prized green zircon. Zircons with the highest value in optical properties are called high zircons, those with the lowest as low zircons. Sri Lanka is the main source of gem quality zircon, other localities include Southeast Asia, Brazil, Nigeria, Tanzania, Australia and France.

Green zircon – most highly prized

l3 zir ov grgn ce 6.08(12.3x9.7x5.6)c 2k sb LT368	l zir ov lmgn vt 5.30(10.4x9.2x5.5)c 08 4b54 N74
l zir ov ygn ce 5.27(10.8x9.2x6)vsi 1k 4b47 N150	m1 zir ov dpgn 4.01(11.5x7.5x5.8)c 1k sb151
m3 zir sq ltgn 2.84(71x5.4)c 04 4b47 M27	s zir tr gn br 1.28(7.2x6.4x3.7)ec 035 4b47 N31
sa zir ov grgn 1.12(6.7x5.7x3.9)c 03 4b47 N44	sa zir ov grgn 1.12(6.9x5.6x3.4)c 03 4b47 N52
vs1 zir rn dsgn ma 0.82 (5.9x4)ec 025 4b47 N40	vs zir em ygn ma 0.74(6.2x4.2x3)ec 025 4b47 N38

Starlight (blue zircon) – mostly popularly associated colour

h2 zir rn crbl 16.76(13.3x9.9)ec 2k sb  L490	h3 zir trp crbl 13.15(16x12.6x6.1)c 1.5k sb260
l3 zir em mdsybl 6.87(11.5x7.3x6.4)ec 07 4b42 N106	l3 zir pr crbl 6.41(10.5x8.6x7.6)ec 065 sb153
l3 zir ov bl 6.43(11.1x8.5x6.5)ec 065 4b44	l zir ov bl 5.29(9.5x7.8x6.2)ec 053 4b44 N100
m1 zir rn bl 4.67(8.3sqx6.8)c 06 sb T158	m1a zir prfn crbl 4.33(9.8x8.7x5.8)ec 045 4b44 N100
m2a zir em bl 3.92(8.9x5.7x4.8)c 05k sbT162	s1 zir ra skbl 1.81(5.9x5.3x4.3)ec 02 4b45 4b45 N41

Hyacinth (red, orange, yellow, brown) – beautiful and diverse.  

Imperial zircon is peach-orange very rare(second photo)

h2 zir ov orangered 16.76(14.3x12.4x8.9)cu 1.7k sb TL320	imperial h2 zir pr peach-orange 15.74(17.2x12.7x8.4)c 1.5k sb M210
l1 zir em ord ma 9.54(14.4x8.8x5.6)ec 095 sb N56	l2 zir ov ord cam 7.30(12x9.4x6.1)ec 06 4b58 C17
l2a zir ov ord 7.22(11x10x6.3)c 08 sbT68	l3a zir ov rdo 6.86(12.7x10.2x5.7)ec 07 4b51 N120
l3c zir rn dpo cam 6.37(10.6x7.3)ecu 06 4b58 N57	l3d zir ra ord cam 6.29(8.8x8.6x6.4)ecu 06 4b53 N54
l zir mq o viet 5.50(15.6x6.3x5.1)c 055 4b55 N76	la zir em ord 5.48(12.5x7.6x4.4)c 06 sb T82
m1b zir pr o cam 4.29(11.1x8x5.2)cu 04 4b58 N33	m1d zir em rdo cam 4.0(8.8x7x5)cu 04 4b53 N33
m6a zir tr imp ord cam 2.22(7.5x7x5)c 025 4b55 C5	s1 zir ov o 1.86(8.2x6.1x3.5)c 02 4b56 N33
h1 zir ov gbn 11.08(13x10x7)c 1.1k sb L207	l1 zir ov yg 9.50(11.6x10.5x7.3)ec 095 4b52 N122
l2a zir ov yg 7.81(11.65x9.8x7)ec 075 4b52 E172	l2c zir em yg 7.03(12.2x9x4.8)c 07 4b52 E170
l3 zir ov gy 6.14(12x9.4x5.1)c 06 4b54 M78	la zir ov yg 5.95(10.4x9x6.3)c 06 4b54 M152
lc zir hex yg 5.57(11.7x8.7x5)c 06 4b55 N152	m1 zir ov dpy ta 4.30(10.1x8.1x5.4)ecu 045 4b58 N45
m3 zir mq yg 2.80(11.8x5.9x4.1)ec 035 4b56 N44	m5 zir ov yg 2.31(7.5x6.7x)c 035 4b56 T36

Jargon (colourless zircon) – most famous

h2 zir ov wh 15.95(17.2x12.7x6.3)c 1.5k sb L265	h zir tr wh 12.02(14x13.2x6.9)c 1k sb100
l2 zir ov wh 7.49(13x9.4x5.6)c 075 4b49 M60	l zir ov wh 5.44(11.2x9x5.8)cu 055 4b49 M33
m1 zir ov wh 4.0(9.5x7.8x5)c 04 4b48 C16	m2a zir ov wh 3.59(10.6x7.8x4.2)ec 035 b48 N47
m2b zir em whpure col 3.57(9.2x6x5.1)c 035 4b48 T66	m2d zir ov wh 3.15(9.5x7.3x4.4)c 03 4b48 M41
m4 zir ov wh 2.54(9.2x6.6x4.1)c 025 4b48 M34	m5 zir ov whpktt 2.37(9.5x6.1x4.2)ec 025 4b48 M35