PERIDOT: Birthstone for August and Libra

Peridot is the birthstone for the month of August.

It is the gem variety of the mineral olivine and is one of the few gemstones to occur only in one colour - olive green.  The intensity and tint of the green depends on how much iron is contained in the crystal structure so the colour of the individual peridot gems will vary from yellow to olive to brownish-green.

Peridot olivine is mined in Egypt, Arkansas, Arizona on the San Carlos Reservation, Hawaii, Nevada and New Mexico; and in Australia, Brazil, China, Kenya, Mexico, Burma, Norway, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Tanzania.


It has been mined as a gemstone for thousands of years and is mentioned in the Bible under the name of chrysolite.  Legend has it that peridot was one of the favourite gemstones of Cleopatra.